About Good Covers
Source: Bandcamp (where you can also buy a digital copy of the album for $10 CAD)
“Stratford, Ontario-based songwriter Christo Graham returns with Good Covers, a stunning slice of self-described “British Invasion Americana” boasting a varied tracklist that combines pastoral banjo fingerpickers, McCartneyesque piano balladry, and languid acoustic psychedelia into a remarkably cohesive package. His fifth release for Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies, the album takes an understated and homespun approach, the directness of the recordings reflected in the immediacy of the resulting tunes. It arrives in record stores on January 30th, 2026.
Good Covers is Graham’s eleventh album overall; he has been releasing work through We Are Busy Bodies since 2020’s Turnin’, and his earliest records date back to early high school. By his own admission, his discography has run the stylistic gamut, veering into genres as disparate from his current work as slick 80s pop (2016’s November Baby) and bombastic rock opera (2025’s Clown Riot). Lately though, his guiding light appears to be rustic folk and country songwriting filtered through the lens of kaleidoscopic 60s pop. On Good Covers, sparse instrumentation disguises sneakily ornamental and lush arrangements, with expertly deployed organ drones and twinkling Cameo piano augmenting the standard guitar, bass, and drum layers. It’s an exercise in making full use of a simple toolbox; everything was tracked with one Shure 545S, all guitars were run clean through a small Silvertone bass amp, and the vocals sit unadorned above the mix. This no-frills aesthetic is the record’s greatest strength, allowing Graham’s deft words and sticky melodies to take the listener’s primary focus.
The album was recorded over about three weeks of winter 2025 at Graham’s then-home in Lansdowne, Ontario. Eschewing the analog recording of two recent efforts, he opted to preserve a “tape mentality” of simple and efficient recording while tracking this outing digitally. The album was engineered and mixed by Graham himself in a time of transition; he had just welcomed a newborn and was preparing to imminently move house. Due to this, the album is a family affair — Graham completed bass and acoustic takes with a one-week old strapped to his chest, while his four-year old engineered the drum recordings and his wife Kelly lent harmonies to a few tracks. The only other guest on Good Covers is Brian d’Arcy James, who appears on the duet “Hidin’ Your Hurtin’.”