Benson Boone’s North American tour rolled through Nashville last night, Sept. 9, and to mark the occasion, he delivered a stirring cover of a modern country classic, Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up.”
The performance began with an arrangement fairly faithful to Isbell’s original, with Boone accompanied by just an acoustic guitar. But as the song progressed, more of the singer’s backing band joined in — as did the crowd — with Boone pushing his voice higher and higher as he belted the devotional track.
Boone has included a cover song in his setlist at every show of his American Heart tour so far, often selecting a new song every night. The only repeat so far has been Coldplay’s “Sparks” while he’s also done Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow,” Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times,” and even Creedence Clearwater Revivals’ “Fortunate Son.”
Boone kicked off his current tour last month, and the North American leg is scheduled to run through October, closing with a three-night stand in Salt Lake City, Utah. After that, he’ll embark on a run of shows in Europe, the U.K., and Ireland.
In June, Boone released his second album, American Heart, which followed his 2022 breakthrough, Fireworks & Rollerblades. In a Rolling Stone cover story earlier this year, Boone described American Heart as “very Bruce Springsteen, Americana, like a little more of a retro vibe.” While he admitted he’s not sure the album has another hit as massive as “Beautiful Things,” he also said achieving that wasn’t his top priority as an artist.
“It all started with me believing in the song ‘Beautiful Things,’” he said. “Now, I have a whole album just about ready to go — and I’ve never believed so much in a body of work.”
