Not Fade Away

Florence Welch: Not Fade Awayfrom Tabitha Denholm on Nowness.com.

This is the final part of the Letters From America series, this also being the Letter from New Orleans.

Outfitted in Day of the Dead regalia, Florence Welch conjures a soulful rendition of Buddy Holly's 1957 hit in new music video “Not Fade Away.” Produced by Louisiana native C.C. Adcock and recorded in New Orleans last year in the midst of Florence and the Machine's North American tour, the cover is part of a forthcoming 19-track tribute album, Rave On Buddy Holly, which commemorates the late musician’s 75th birthday. "When I was 10 my grandmother took me to see the Buddy Holly musical and I've had a crush on him ever since. And now my boyfriend looks slightly like him!" Welch laughs. The compilation's producers, Randall Poster and Gelya Robb, enlisted the likes of Patti Smith, Julian Casablancas, Paul McCartney and Karen Elson (with Jack White) in testament to Holly’s immeasurable influence. "He elevated the ordinary to poetry,” says Poster, renowned music supervisor for films by Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes. "A lot of artists have found inspiration and identified with Buddy Holly, because they feel like he's everyman, not a superman. He gave John Lennon the confidence to wear glasses." NOWNESS asked Poster to annotate standout tracks from the album, available on June 28.

Florence and the Machine, "Not Fade Away"
Florence was an artist that we wanted to have on the record from the beginning. By virtue of where she was, the track has this New Orleans arrangement: it breathes a Cajun influence. The song bears a geographic imprint.

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