CatSong Festival, which was staged to celebrate the 50th anniversary reissues of the singer's 1970 albums 'Tea for the Tillerman' and 'Mona Bone Jakon', also features Dave Matthews.
- Dec 7, 2020
AceShowbiz - HAIM, Jack Johnson, and Dave Matthews were among the stars who came together to honour Yusuf/Cat Stevens as part of Saturday's (December 05) CatSong Festival.
The livestream event was staged to celebrate the 50th anniversary reissues of the singer-songwriter's 1970 albums "Tea for the Tillerman" and "Mona Bone Jakon".
Johnson kicked off the special by performing "Where Do the Children Play?", confessing it was an "honour" to play a track by one of his "all-time favourites."
He was followed by the HAIM sisters, who offered their rendition of "Hard Headed Woman".
Incubus' Brandon Boyd, Feist, James Morrison, Passenger, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ron Sexsmith and Imelda May also pitched in for the two hour-plus event, joining in the fun by sending in videos from home.
Highlights included Feist's version of the "Mona Bone Jakon" classic "Trouble" and Matthews' take on "Tea for the Tillerman" track "Father and Son".
"It's great to see and hear these covers of my songs given new life," Yusuf said of CatSong in a statement. "There's no better honor for a songwriter than to have his songs performed by talented musicians with such love and sincerity. Thank you."
The singer, who adopted the name Yusuf Islam after converting to Islam in 1977, also celebrated the 50th anniversary of his album "Mona Bone Jakon" by releasing a previously-unreleased demo recording of "Maybe You're Right". The studio demo offers impressively clean audio of Stevens in the studio with just his acoustic guitar and vocals to perform the song in one take.
The "Mona Bone Jakon" 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set was released on December 4. It includes newly-remastered audio recordings from the original album on CD and Blu-Ray discs, along with unreleased demos, live recordings, video footage, a 98-page hardback book and unique memorabilia.
