Bartees Strange joined The National onstage at two of the band’s recent shows, contributing guest vocals to a rendition of ‘Mistaken For Strangers’.
Strange, who is supporting The National on four of their North American shows this month, performed the ‘Boxer’ standout with the band at concerts in Calgary and Missoula this week.
“Special thanks to [Strange] for playing a better version of Lemonworld than ours and joining us on Mistaken For Strangers,” The National wrote on Instagram following the Calgary show. Watch footage from the performances in Calgary and Missoula below:
“Mistaken for Strangers” featuring Bartees Strange (Calgary – August 7th, 2022) from TheNational
✌?Last night in Missoula, So beautiful. So gorgeous to play on a mountain and to meet so many kindpeople. Will not forget! We hit again with @TheNational in Ogden Utah. My third time in Utah in the last year ??Here’s Us singing mistaken for strangers again! ??♥️ pic.twitter.com/U859h7Qryy
— STRANGE (@Bartees_Strange) August 9, 2022
Strange performing ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ with The National marks something of a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter. In 2020, prior to releasing debut album ‘Live Forever’, Strange released an EP titled ‘Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy’ in which he covered five songs by The National, including ‘Lemonworld’, ‘Mr. November’ and ‘All The Wine’.
In March of this year, Strange performed a cover of The National’s ‘About Today’ as part of Sound Of Saving’s ‘Song That Found Me At The Right Time’ series, which helps promote honest and intimate conversations about mental health.
In June, Strange released his second studio album, ‘Farm To Table’, after previewing it with singles ‘Heavy Heart’, ‘Cosigns’ and ‘Hold The Line’. The same month, he performed album track ‘Wretched’ while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The National, meanwhile, debuted a new song titled ‘Space Invaders (Threaded Gold)’ during their set at this year’s Newport Folk Festival last month. It came after the band performed three other as-yet-unreleased songs in Spain back in May.
In March, guitarist Bryce Dessner confirmed that the band were working on their next album – the follow-up to 2019’s ‘I Am Easy To Find’ – although he “wasn’t sure when new music will come”.