In 2018, a biker jacket-clad Phoebe Bridgers credited The Felice Brothers’ ‘Life In The Dark’ as bringing ‘[a semblance of] peace in the world’ in politically turbulent times. In 2026, her cover of the record lands on Felice County Fair — a celebration of the Brothers’ catalogue featuring over a dozen artists of the present-day Americana and folk circuit.
Bridgers, once known for a discography of covers that outnumbered original songs, is a master of reimagination. Her distinct stylistic touches — the slowing of tempo, restrained vocals and reigns of production in the decisive hands of long-term collaborators (Tony Berg and Blake Mills contribute to this version) — pour such conviction into others’ words that they truly become her own. Her Christmas renditions are perhaps the best examples of this conversion —‘So Much Wine’ exists only if Bridgers sings it.
With ‘Life In The Dark,’ Bridgers reshapes a jangly, country-rock number into a relatively bare, strummy ode to the song’s original creators. Her cover of ‘Life in The Dark’ exists sparsely, powered by a dual sense of peace and hopeless resignation brought forth in her vocals. Akin to her hushed cover of ‘Iris,’ released upon Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential elections, Bridgers parses the barebones of standards for meaning to lend the political moment. In doing so, she makes yet another song her own.
Bruce Baker from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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