Covered with Love, from Woodstock Mothership founder Paul McMahon, is the music of drunken abandon. “Drunken” is used here in the metaphorical sense (although the liner notes do say that copious amounts of beer were consumed during the recording process). The songs—composed, sung, and strummed by McMahon—are delivered with a sort of slur, a nonchalant honesty that comes from when your inhibitions are on the floor. The opening track, “Music Wash My Heart,” is like a mantra delivered on a hot summer night, made as an offering to the deity that is music. “Four Winds” is an homage to the open road, answering it when it calls. “Easter Morning” recounts Jesus’s resurrection, and explores holiness and humility in a gently rocking tune. The album’s sound is marked by unvarnished strumming, light drums, and pleasingly lackadaisical vocals. While the sound is light, the thread is heavy: Surrender. Surrender to music itself and its God-shaped form. To the roaming impulses of one’s soul. To the direction of the wind. To love.
This article appears in May 2026.
