Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones - Foreverly

Don and Phil Everly surprised everyone in 1958 by turning their backs on a chart-topping pop career to release Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, a collection of old country and bluegrass standards originally recorded by legends like Gene Autry and Lefty Frizzell. Today it’s considered a classic. Now the unlikely duo of Norah Jones and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong have repeated the surprise, paying tribute to the Everly Brothers by re-recording that album. With Billie Joe playing Don and Norah taking the younger Phil’s parts, they recreate the Everlys’ signature close harmony style. But there’s a modern twist: by adding a female voice, songs like “Barbara Allen” and “Oh So Many Years” take on new depth and meaning. Jones sings lead on the plaintive “I’m Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail” and she and Armstrong blend their voices perfectly on “Long Time Gone,” an old Tex Ritter song. Doing the unexpected, they’ve created something delightfully fresh.