The Chieftains have collaborated with everyone from Ziggy Marley to Madonna, but this 50th-anniversary album is the Celtic traditionalists' first-ever foray into indie rock. The Decemberists' Colin Meloy spins a springy version of Bob Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In," Bon Iver's Justin Vernon croons a ghostly murder ballad, and alt-country bands like Punch Brothers reel 'n' jig it up nicely. Indie rock's cult of schlubby singing doesn't always merge with the Chieftains' crystalline professionalism. So it takes a real pro – Miranda Lambert's roots band Pistol Annies – to truly shake our shamrock; their sumptuously lilting take on "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" is sweet and strong like a noon Guinness on a Kerryman's gums.

Listen to "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies":

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“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."