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Aug 14, 2020 By Christopher Roberts First Aid Kit

Swedish sister alt-country/folk duo First Aid Kit (Klara and Johanna Söderberg) have shared a cover of Willie Nelson’s classic “On the Road Again” via a video fittingly made up of fun footage of the band on tour. The cover is a fitting sentiment for these pandemic times when bands can’t tour and to that end proceeds from the cover will be donated to Crew Nation, which is “a charitable fund that was created to help people working backstage that were supposed to be working on shows planned for 2020.” The cover was actually recorded seven years ago, but has never been released. The video was edited by Johanna, before recently giving birth to her daughter. Watch the video below.

First Aid Kit collectively had this to say about the cover in a press release: “We’re excited to release our version of ‘On the Road Again’ by Willie Nelson. We recorded this cover a couple of years ago and recently found it while digging through the archives. The song is a country classic, it feels like we’ve known it forever. Because of the situation with COVID, sadly, the theme of the song has never felt more relevant than it does today.

“We made a video for the song using cellphone footage from our tours throughout the years. Going through all those videos made us emotional. It made us realize how much we appreciate being able to roam freely around the world. How much we love the feeling of playing live for people, in the flesh. How much we miss our incredible band and crew.

“All the proceeds from the streaming of the song will go to Crew Nation. So much of the magic happens behind the stage. It’s easily taken for granted, but without our touring and venue crew live music wouldn’t be possible. It’s important that we help them out right now.

“Oh, how we wish we could get back on the road again! Hopefully we’ll see you down the road sometime soon.”

Nurit Smith, Executive Director, Music Forward Foundation, and of Crew Nation released this statement: “Crew Nation is extremely grateful to Johanna and Klara for finding a way to support the members of crew who have been forced off the road and out of work. These music crews spend their lives touring with artists, so it’s wonderful to have special tribute to those unseen magical moments with this song and video.”

Crew Nation was put together by Live Nation, who donated the initial five million dollars to the fund and has helped fundraise additional money.

Stream/purchase “On the Road Again” here.

Last year First Aid Kit shared a new song, “Strange Beauty,” in tribute to David Berman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, who took his own life in 2019. “Strange Beauty” was one of our Songs of the Week. They also shared a cover of Silver Jews’ “Random Rules,” from 1998’s American Water.

First Aid Kit’s last album, Ruins, came out back in January 2018, and was followed by the Tender Offerings EP in September 2018, both via Columbia.

Read our 2018 print magazine interview with First Aid Kit on Ruins.

Read our 2018 Fan Interview with First Aid Kit, where they answered questions submitted by their fans.

Read our 2018 Bucket List interview with First Aid Kit.

Read our 2014 interview with First Aid Kit.

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