If you’re paying really careful attention to what I write in Cover Wars you might recall that I said I was going to ten straight weeks of Cover Album Wars instead of the older format where we had multiple versions of the same song. Well, I lied. This week I’m taking a request I have received and we’re taking a look at nine covers of Can’t Find My Way Home. CFMWH comes to us from the greatest super-group of all time: Blind Faith.

Blind Faith was a short lived band, releasing just the one self-titled album. Founding members Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood (who wrote the song we are discussing) recently performed three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in February of 2008. However, the show was billed as Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood and not as Blind Faith.

Read on after the jump for some versions that you can only find on YouTube, the winner from last week’s column (it’s a first time winner), killer videos of Blind Faith Live and more.

You must register/login to Imeem to hear the audio clips in their entirety.

To place your vote, and for full descriptions READ ON after the jump…

Alison Krauss: This track comes off the soundtrack for the movie Crossing Jordan. The vocals being at the top of any man’s vocal range automatically makes it a fantastic classic rock song for females to perform. If you like this, you need to hear her version of Baby Now That I Found You off of her double-live release.

John Cowan Band: There were a few other bluegrass/newgrass covers of this on the Live Music Archive but I thought this one was the strongest. Take note of John counting off the song while singing the guitar intro to himself, I got a kick out of that. Check out the whole show on The Archive

Little Feat (Blues Brunch): Well this sounds like fun. Blues Brunch on the Grand Terrace from the Fourth Annual Little Feat Fan Excursion to Jamaica. On this track we’ve got Shaun Murphy singing lead with Little Feat members Bill Payne and Paul Barrere. Also on the track are Piero Mariani (Percussion) and Ron Holloway (Saxophone). Check out the whole show on The Archive

New Monsoon: New Monsoon makes their CW debut this week with a great rendition of this tune. You can check out the whole show on The Archive

Blind Faith

Ryan Montbleau Band: Just about what you’d expect from the RMB: Soulful vocals and tasteful instrumentation. It appears this may have been a one-off or rare cover from these guys as this is the only version available on the LMA. Check out the whole show on The Archive

Umphrey’s McGee: In case you missed it, UM has been inducted into the imaginary Cover Wars Hall of Fame (they won three contests and have been temporarily removed from any future votes. They share this honor with Mr. Blotto). This performance comes from one of my personal favorite concert experiences at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo Michigan. This is a perfect example of why Jake Cinninger needs to sing more lead. Jake’s the one handling the falsetto high vocal part and Brendan Bayliss seems to have written his own harmony part. Jake also lends his strong vocals to other rare UM covers such as Bell Bottom Blues and Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.

For the best version of this song that UM has performed, you need to purchase this acoustic version from Philadelphia in 2006.

Widespread Panic: How I made this far in Cover Wars with an angry WSP yelling at me for not including them has me quite baffled. Better late than never right? Call me a WSP ignorant, but I had never heard them do this before. If I was more well versed in all things Panic, I probably would have known JB likes to sing lyrics from Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child over a rockin’ outro jam. Hearing that for the first time - that was fucking awesome. Sometimes it’s nice to be a n00b. To download this show (04/07/1995), and many other classic Panic shows, sign up for the Digital Panic tracker.

Yvonne Elliman: If you’re wondering where you recognize her from, perhaps it’s the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Yvonne played Mary Magdalene. You can also hear her singing backup on such classic tracks as Eric Clapton’s rendition of I Shot The Sheriff.

Zero: Much like their cover of Like A Rolling Stone in the Highway 61 Revisited Cover Wars, this is a drawn-out and down-tempo rendition. Been listening to a lot of Zero in the recent months after Martin Fierro’s passing. I imagine jam sessions with Martin in the next life just got a great new player with the addition of Bo Diddley. Check out the whole show on The Archive

Speaking of Steve Kimock (The guitar player in Zero), one of his groups walked away with the trophy of last week’s Allman Brothers Edition with his great cover of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. This is Kimock’s first Cover War trophy.

While the Democratic primaries might be ending today, Cover Wars will take it’s fight all the way to the convention. If you have any songs/artists you would like to see in a future Cover Wars, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment…I might just do it - like I did for today’s!

Here’s some videos of Blind Faith and Clapton/Winwood:

1969:

Clapton & Winwood in 2007

A nice montage of images with the studio recording: