Appalachian rock powerhouse Scattered Hamlet unleashes a raw, high-octane cover of Merle Haggard’s classic Mama Tried, injecting outlaw grit and punk swagger into the legendary anthem. The track, part of their ongoing cover series, captures the band’s signature blend of backwoods bravado and blue-collar rebellion while honouring Haggard’s original spirit.
The song dropped Monday on all major streaming platforms, but the accompanying video will premiere June 4. According to frontman, Adam Joad, “For each of the covers we did for our cover sessions, we tried to reimagine the track….For this one, we tried to think of what it would sound like if Scattered Hamlet, Johnny Thunders, The Clash, and Mike Ness were in a room and decided to jam on a Merle tune. Not sure how close we got to that, but this is where we landed.”
Prior to Mama Tried, the band also released a cover of Eddie Rabbit’s Driving My Life Away. According to Joad, “We basically all brought in a cowboy or classic country ideas, and we sat in a room and tried to figure out different ways to approach them. We ended up with 5 tracks from the session that will later be released on hard copy as a covers EP.” Both Mama Tried and Driving My Life Away are streaming on all your favourite platforms now.
