I was saddened to read a few weeks ago that Mark Lanegan had died. The Screaming Trees were a huge part of my cliched-but-true grunge-fueled musical awakening, and I’d happily (but a bit gloomily, if I’m honest) consumed the scattered bits of material he released over the past couple decades. Solo material (especially Whiskey For The Holy Ghost; “Borracho” is among my favourite songs of all time, alongside the Trees’ “Julie Paradise”), collaborations with the likes of Isobel Campbell and Duke Garwood, and so on. His voice affected me in a way few could.

Reading this article, I realized that I never actually listened to his influential 1990 solo album The Winding Sheet. Nor did I realize Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic played on it, including on a cover of Lead Belly‘s “In the Pines” (aka “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”) which Nirvana then recorded for their MTV Live album. So there’s a weekend project then. I’m glad I’ll get to discover something from him once again, even after so many years.