Back in April, ATO Records shared the star-studded album The Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver along with My Morning Jacket’s cover of “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” We also heard alt-rock great J Mascis and haunting folky Sharon Van Etten come together on “Prisoners,” and it’s that track that now delivers the video above, complete with a couple of more stars for good measure. That beautifully gnarled version gets a whimsical visual treatment courtesy of Funny or Die and director Scott Jacobson (Dinosaur Jr., Nick Catchdubs, M. Ward).
Therein we meet two John Denver devotees who are unhappy working for the man. Played by Superchunk’s Jon Wurster and singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, the two nearly cross paths on a dating site for their nature-loving ilk, but then literally do so out in the actual woods. As Mascis sings, “Wish they would let me go home,” the couple cement their budding romance, and a pair of puppet friends are returned to their natural habitat.
