02.12.2020
COUNTRY REWIND: GEORGE JONES TEAMS WITH NEW WAVER ELVIS COSTELLO FOR ‘STRANGER IN THE HOUSE’
Wide Open Country: Bobby Moore: January 2020
Throughout Elvis Costello’s transition from new wave taste-maker to Americana elder statesman, he upheld the song selections and vocal performances of country music legend George Jones. Costello even wrote a song titled “Stranger in the House” with Jones in mind. The pair perform it together on Jones’ 1979 album My Very Special Guests.
Costello first recorded it solo for a John Peel radio session in October 1978. That version, which appears on a free 7-inch single distributed in the UK with early copies of Costello’s This Year’s Model album, sounds just as much like a Jones homage as Costello’s interpretation of “Good Year For the Roses” off the 1981 country covers album Almost Blue.