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This acoustic fingerstyle cover of Toto’s Rosanna is so stunning it’s been approved by Steve Lukather himself
“I like your version better than ours!”
Image: Jun Sato / Getty Images
There’s no higher compliment when covering a song than receiving praise from the original artist themself. Well, in the comment section of Casper Esmann’s new cover of Toto’s Rosanna, that’s exactly what’s happened.
Under the video of Esmann’s acoustic fingerstyle rendition, Steve Lukather has left his stamp of approval. Apparently, the cover was first shown to him by an impressed Zakk Wylde, too.
- READ MORE: “One note, and everyone would be on their feet”: Steve Lukather reflects on the impact of Jeff Beck
Rosanna is the opening track to the band’s 1982 album, Toto IV. It landed as the first single from the record, and won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1983. In Lukather’s glowing feedback, he says he prefers Esmann’s bouncy cover to the original. A pretty big deal if you ask us.
“Wow man, that is so killer! Like your version better than ours!” says Lukather of the cover. “Zakk Wylde sent me this. Glad he did. Hope I see ya live sometime! Very touched you would bother. Thanks.”
Check out the video below, featuring some sliding capo wizardry:
Lukather is often supportive of up and coming musicians. In fact, the guitarist sympathises with the next generation of musicians as more artists are having to cut through social media trends and highly populated streaming services to get heard.
Last summer, Lukather told Rock History Music, “It’s really hard for younger people to bust out wide open, like we were lucky enough to do when we were young. You could have a single, and your whole career could blossom from that.”
He added, “The album sells, you get enough songs to go out and play for at least an hour, and build your career. Now, it’s like, if you don’t have one song and a million followers on Instagram, you could write Sgt. Pepper’s [and] nobody’s gonna take it.
“That’s backwards,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Wait a second, what do you need a record company for if you can get that many people to listen to your stuff?’ It makes no sense. So, a different world.”
Check out more from Casper Esmann via his YouTube channel.