Emily Zemler
View all posts by Emily Zemler April 13, 2026
Jason Isbell and Hayley Williams Scott Legato/Getty Images; Valerie Terranova/Getty Images Hayley Williams enlisted Jason Isbell for a performance of his 2013 song “Cover Me Up” at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Sunday night.
Isbell joined Williams on stage to showcase the emotive, bluesy track, off his album Southeastern. Isbell played acoustic while Williams took on the vocals, with Isbell later joining her on the chorus. “This is a dream come true,” Williams told Isbell. “Thanks for doing it.”
Isbell originally wrote “Cover Me Up” about getting sober and his love for ex-wife Amanda Shires. “That was a hard one for me to even get through without breaking down the first time, because that one is really personal,” Isbell told NPR in 2013.. “It’s not easy to sit down and open yourself up and say, ‘This is how much I love you,’ you know? It’s scary to do that.”
The song was notably covered by Morgan Wallen as part of his 2020 LP, Dangerous: The Double Album. Following Wallen’s industry-wide rebuke for using a racial slur in 2021, Isbell announced that he would be donating the money he earned from Wallen’s recording to the NAACP.
