I recently read an interview with Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, in which he was talking about the band's acoustic EPs. According to him, the idea was for the musicians to see what their music is really worth – and if they wrote songs that are really that good. When a song is really good, Cantrell explained, it will still sound great even if you remove all the effects, distortion and what not, and strip it down to just an acoustic guitar and a vocal.|

Everlast's acoustic album from last year, 'The Life Acoustic,' proved that the former MC turned alternative blues troubadour's catalogue could stand this treatment as well. When you unload all the hip-hop beats, female backing vocals, guitar effects and all kinds of modern recording studio wizardry, and leave just an acoustic guitar, some restrained keyboards and the deep, thick voice of the musician born as Erik Schrody, the songs sound even more enchanting. This works because they were never about flare to begin with – with Everlast, the focus has always been on the stories of struggle he tells, and singing them in a way that makes you live through them as well.

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