Evanescence‘s Amy Lee has delivered a serene, striking performance of Led Zeppelin‘s “Going to California” in the latest installment of her ongoing covers series.
The track is accompanied by a simple black-and-white video, in which Lee sings “Going to California” in the studio and out in the wild. Lee’s friend and manager Jordan Berliant deftly recreated the original track’s delicate, intricate guitar and mandolin parts, while Lee’s vocals build to a rousing bellow that may be a far cry from Robert Plant’s ragged, torn performance, but are no less chilling.
On Facebook, Lee wrote that she was inspired to cover the Zeppelin IV classic after hearing the instrumentals Berliant had recorded for fun. Lee also noted the song has become a staple in her home, where she sings it to her young son Jack to help him fall asleep.
Lee performed “Going to California” with Evanescence during their live dates last month, and she wrote: “It’s a pleasure to sing a song publicly that is such a part of who I am offstage — my roots, the style of music that we always played around my house when I was growing up, and still at every big family gathering, singing and playing music with my dad.”
“Going to California” follows Lee’s renditions of U2’s “With or Without You” and Portishead’s “It’s a Fire.” Lee also told Rolling Stone recently that she has recorded material for a solo album that she plans to release soon.