Watch ‘Voice’ Champ Jake Hoot Cover Jason Isbell’s ‘Cover Me Up’

He's reprising his career-launching performance from high above Music City.

Written by Chris Parton
Watch ‘Voice’ Champ Jake Hoot Cover Jason Isbell’s ‘Cover Me Up’
Jake Hoot; Photo credit: Alejandro Medina

The Voice’s reigning champ Jake Hoot delivers an acoustic cover of an Americana favorite in a video premiering on Sounds Like Nashville today (April 23). Check out his vocally-gifted rendition of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” below.

Recorded live from the top of the 1200 Broadway building in downtown Nashville, the intimate clip finds this Tennessee native tackling one of his favorite songs. Hoot sang the song on Season 17 of NBC’s The Voice in 2019, and it turned out to be a big part of the reason he made it through the show’s difficult “battle rounds.” Now it’s an equally big part of his concert set.

“I’m excited to cover one of my favorite songs!” Hoot tells Sounds Like Nashville. “Since performing it on The Voice, it has become the most requested song for me to sing by far. I am so pleased with the way it turned out!”

Hoot’s version stays true to the original portrait of a couple wrapping themselves in a blanket of love, presenting it with stunning-yet-intimate determination. As Hoot sings of locking himself in a room with his significant other and not coming out “til the magnolias bloom,” it’s the romantic epic itself that does some heartfelt blooming.

Since winnning The Voice, Hoot has gotten his career underway — even making his Grand Ole Opry debut in February and dedicating “Tennessee Strong” to the victims of a tornado which devastated his hometown in March. He isn’t the only country artist to cover Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” though, as Morgan Wallen also earned himself a surprise streaming hit last year.