Chan Marshall has been recording covers for many, many years. For most of that time, her process has been to strip a song down to almost nothing and then to use that song to project haunted desperation. Consider the her famous 2000 version of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," which managed to…

Few artists in the music world have been so defined -- or misguidedly damned -- by their public struggles like Chan Marshall. Through the success of her band-turned-alias Cat Power, listeners found an artist with a voice so emotive and untreated that it could feel like an intrusion just listening to her. But that matter…

We're so used to seeing musicians do the late-night promo rounds that it almost gets robotic. Host interviews band, band plays song, host comes out to shake hands with band and say the name of the album. It's rare for the musician to have any kind of human moment in the midst of all that.

Chan Marshall is trying to remember how her three-year-old son likes his bed made. Having failed to get it right the first time, she strips a set of white sheets and a quilt off of a small futon in the corner of her East Village bedroom while I look on. She starts over, tucking the…

Eddie Vedder was the headliner yesterday at the third iteration of his annual three-day music festival, Ohana Fest, in Dana Point, California’s Doheny State Beach. His set weaved together Pearl Jam classics with covers of Bruce Springsteen, Cat Power, Neil Young, and more. For Pearl Jam's "Better Man," Vedder brought out Liz Phair, who also&am...