Emmylou Harris did a beautiful cover of Pancho And Lefty way back when she was a lot younger. Really beautiful.
Best Covers
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You can barely hear it, but before Kasey Chambers starts playing "No Time To Cry" (written by Iris DeMent) she says "This is my favorite song." It’s in my Top 3.
https://youtu.be/boG_aCz3YEk?si=ySeL3rVklTIuVu2x
Merle Haggard also profusely praised the song, and recorded it himself. Iris’ version remains definitive.
https://youtu.be/BfyqbkuV_e8?si=8-efMc24Xw5cZJWd
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My point of view about songs is that the better the song, the greater the likelihood that every version of it will be at least good. To me, the song itself is akin to the script of a movie. Of all the versions of "That’s How I Got To Memphis" (written by Tom T. Hall) that I’ve heard, that by Buddy Miller remains my favorite. His recording of the song sounds like it could have been made in Memphis, or at least somewhere in the South (it was made in Buddy’s Nashville studio, with Buddy producing and engineering). But that preference is just a personal one, nothing more. Buddy’s voice is that of a world-weary man, rather than a boyish young fella. IMO Karl Blau should consider performing the song in a lower key; his version sounds more like a Pop song than it "should". Again, just a personal opinion. Buddy has an unfair advantage, as joining him on electric guitar is Gurf Morlix (Lucinda’s guitarist/harmony singer/bandleader/80’s & 90’s producer), with Al Perkins (The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, Manassas, Iris DeMent, etc.) on steel. The excellent drumming is by the late Don Heffington, original drummer of Lone Justice. I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Don in the late-90’s/early 2000’s, when we both appeared on stage at The Palomino in L.A. I ended up selling him a 1930’s Slingerland Radio King snare drum, but that’s not the drum heard on this recording.
https://youtu.be/q2tXW0OhfKI?si=GoPAyM9pQe1g2viO
Here’s Buddy’s recording of the old classic "You’re Running Wild" (The Louvin Brothers, Emmylou, many others). Joining the above lineup is Tammy Rogers on mandolin and Julie Miller on harmony vocals:
https://youtu.be/98BkhtRAF0Y?si=TUV2vVoqFCXkehvZ
Buddy, not doing much songwriting himself, relies on others for most of his songs. Here’s Buddy’s recording of a fantastic song written by Jesse Winchester: "A Showman’s Life". Providing harmony vocals is Emmylou Harris, drumming by Brady Blade.
https://youtu.be/FGdPF0WLqY8?si=OoJAUeeYZ6aJRl-u
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Bonnie Raitt's superb performance of "Dimming Of The Day", aided by the song’s writer Richard Thompson.
https://youtu.be/1o8M74ufF4Q?si=AWXwIdHLDc9OOePX
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Buddy Miller doesn't do much songwriting (his wife Julie is in charge of that), so does a lot of covers. Here he is doing a Tom T. Hall song, displaying why I consider him one of my favorite living singers: https://youtu.be/q2tXW0OhfKI?si=8e0N6se5ZbOwqxs7
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The original by Jackie DeShannon, who wrote the song: https://youtu.be/IZf6YdPVwNY?si=XAqHgc-TqwFfahmP&t=9
A cover by Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA: https://youtu.be/SzE5akQDSEo?si=dQw1x7n0s_vzdDBe
The Searchers did a version in 1964, but it’s not (imo) as good as either of these.
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Please do not discount this one. William Shatner doing Joe Jackson's " Common People". When I heard this the first time I realized and then confirmed it was Joe Jackson tearing it up in the background. Got away from this thread and need to go back through it and add to my list of a lot of music I have and a lot I don't, some I never heard of. Thanks all. Enjoy the music |
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I've been auditioning/breaking in some new speakers and in the process I have been playing CDs I bought almost 30 years ago and barely listened to, and maybe it's the quality of the speakers or maybe it's the way my listening has either evolved or devolved, but I feel like I am discovering sound I really missed out on the first time around. From the Naked Songs CD by Kiki Dee (of Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Elton John) is a real nice cover of Joni Mitchell's Carey. From the Sex Without Bodies CD by Dave's True Story (featuring Kelly Flint on vocals) is a cover I completely love of lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side. |
Dave Edmunds is not a songwriter, so most of his music is recordings of songs written by others. Here’s his version of John Fogerty’s "Almost Saturday Night", which I prefer to John’s original.
Here’s a live version of a Nick Lowe (Dave’s partner in their band Rockpile) song. You know you’re doing well when Steve Cropper is playing rhythm guitar for you. 😊
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... then, there's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRy53fb_7Sc
Emmylou covering Bruce; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6efV8-Gve50&list=RD6efV8-Gve50&start_radio=1
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Covers of Springsteen's stuff that I like (I may have mentioned some of them, but they are so good they are worth mentioning twice) : Steve Earle did an interesting cover of Mr. State Trooper and The Cowboy Junkies did a neat cover of it as well. The Cowboy Junkies also did a kickas cover of Thunder Road. Tori Amos did a nice cover of I'm On Fire, and Tegan And sara did a cover of Dancing In The Dark that always makes me smile. |
Getting back to the topic of this thread, here are a couple of my favorite covers of Slim Harpo’s classic "Shake Your Hips", both of which make The Stone’s version sound tepid. Joan Osborne’s version is smokin’ hot, live in a radio station with her great band. The Legendary Shack Shakers is kind of a Garage Band version, and I love it too. I wish Willy DeVille had recorded the song.
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yes, that is the one also known as her "white album." I didn't have the pleasure of hearing it until its re-iisue when the Car Wheels CD came out. I bought them both immediately when they were released to the CD stores--I was in heaven. |
I read an interview with R. Crowell where he described the ongoing challenge to his libido of working side by side with a "goddess". Poor guy!
Lucky you! I saw R. Crowell with the Hot Band at the Bluebird Cafe in Sta. Barbara in the mid 70's. That was pretty cool, with both A. Lee and F. Reckard on guitar. |
Emmylou and Lucinda have always had the best bands. Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Buddy Miller, Albert Lee, James Burton, Glen D. Hardin, Emory Gordy, Herb Pedersen, Bernie Leadon, Ron Tutt, John Ware, Ben Keith, Byron Berline, Amos Garrett, Bill Payne, Richard Greene, Hank DeVito, Mike Auldridge, Tony Brown, and Tony Rice are amongst the great musicians who have provided Emmylou with musical accompaniment! Just yesterday I found a copy of Emmylou’s Gliding Bird LP, on Emus Records. It was released in 1979, and contains early pre-Reprise Records recordings. Eight bucks. Right next to it in the bin at Music Millennium was the MoFi pressing of her Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town album. NM condition, $15. I of course have an original, but for fifteen bucks I’ll gamble that this is one of the "good" MoFi’s. 😉
I started seeing Lucinda live in small joints throughout L.A. around the time she was recording what became her s/t album on Rough Trade Records (I assume that’s the one stuartk referred to as her "white album"), once in a pizza parlour! Just Gurf on Telecaster, Dr. John on upright bass, and drummer Donald Lindley playing a washboard (the stage was too small to accomodate a drumset). In the mid-80’s I went to see The Long Ryders at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd., and saw a guy I knew standing with a lanky blonde chick. I went over to say "Hey", and he replied "This is Lucinda, she writes songs too." I didn’t yet know it, but Lucinda’s then-husband was The Ryders’ drummer (for you drummers in the audience, he was playing a set of vintage white marine pearl Slingerland Radio Kings. Very cool!). I was also unaware of her two albums, Ramblin’ On My Mind and Happy Woman Blues. But hearing the Rough Trade album and then seeing her in those intimate performances around L.A. was a life-changing experience, and I of course became an instant fan. I separate musical performers into two groups: entertainers, and artists. Nothing wrong with entertainers, but artists are just a different breed. Lucinda, like Emmylou, is an artist.
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"The first time I met Emmylou, she came into sing on Guy Clark’s first album. She gave me half of her cheeseburger. I wasn’t the same for weeks." Steve Earle from the liner notes on Train A Coming. I love her cover of Steve Earle’s Goodbye from that CD and also her cover of Steve’s Guitar Town that she did on Live At The Ryman (1992).. I was watching youtubes once and found one with him bragging that Emmylou had covered TWO of his songs. |
@stuartk , always good to talk to another Lu-natic! (I am not the originator of that term.) EmmyLou in ’76? Not far removed from the look and sound she had on her cameo at The Last Waltz, huh? I bet that was special. I got to see her with Spy Boy during The Wrecking Ball tour at a little 500 seat general admission joint--as always I was right up front and center .That was an older Emmy Lou. Back in my Junior-Groupy days I had the good fortune to see Lu an even dozen times. The first time was like a religious experience for me--that same 500 seat general admission club (front & center again) that I saw Emmy Lou at--Jim Lauderdale was the opener and then played with Lucinda and the band. The next time was almost as much of a religious experience at a club right next door that held about 1200 standing, and, of course, I was standing front and center leaning against the stage. I was so close I could almost read the folder on the floor that she would flip through with one of her cowboy boots. Patty Griffin opened for her that time and I remember Kenny Vaughan was wearing a Flaming Red tee-shirt. Man oh man but those were the days and I used to feel good about life. Oh well, ramble on. . . . Keep on rocking in the free world! |
@stuartk , ah, I misunderstood you, I was thinking you had seen that performance live. She had a great voice back then (not that she still doesn't, but it has gone through the changes). After I finally figured out whose voice it was that I was liking so much on those Terry Allen and Steve Earle CDs I referenced, the first Lucinda CD I bought was Happy Woman Blues; I get the feeling that it did not get great critical acclaim, but I loved it then and still do today. Great writing and imo great vocal work. I was frontrow at center stage at The Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh for the Poetry Said/Poetry Sung she did with her father. That was the highlight of my life for a while. |
Thanks, @stuartk . I would have loved to seen her back then. As I typed previously, it wasn't until sometime after SOW I discovered her. Actually, it was because of her vocal work on Terry Allen's Human Remains (specifically it was the track Room To Room that I first heard off of that) that started my obsession. But back then I was too stupid to check the credits and see whose voice that was. So it wasn't until I bought Steve Earle/I Feel Alright that I made the connection. And then I bought every Lucinda CD I could find, which were far and few between back then. So I didn't get her "White Album" until it was reissued and released the same time as Car Wheels. |
Mary Gauthier is very talented but what dark material! I tend to think of Gurf as mostly a sideman but clearly I need to explore further... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_1i8q9WYpc
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It's the first ACL show from 1989 -- where her hair is blonde and she's playing with the original band. Gurf Morlix on guitar. I had it on DVD at one point. The complete performance was taken down, apparently and I can only find these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiOehqlrJqc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zYfnbwvgrw
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@stuartk , I am a Lucinda fan going back to sometime in between Sweet old World and Car Wheels and I do remember Mr. Lauderdale and Mr. Vaughan, but what iis the ACL show that you alluded to? |
@stuartk: I too love Gurf’s playing. I sometimes saw him in the Guitar Center on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks, buying guitar strings. He has done some great producing other than Lucinda, including Mary Gauthier. He has also made a few nice albums of his own, available on CD only. There’s a guy in SoCal who is similar to Gurf, a fine singer and Telecaster/steel guitar player: Rick Shea. I saw him live dozens of times when I lived there, and subbed for his regular drummer for one show in 2008. One of those fifty dollar gigs. 😉
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I’ll check them out. I recall seeing Lauderdale with Lucinda Williams on her second ACL show that also featured a very young-looking Kenny Vaughan. I bought "On Your Side" at one point but it didn’t find it very engaging. Maybe I need to give him another try. I love Gurf’s playing with Lucinda. His playing on her first ACL show is a stellar display of how to tastefully and effectively support a vocalist.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiOehqlrJqc I agree that the Fabulous Superlatives are deserving of their name! |
@stuartk: When you watch the video on Lauderdale I posted you will get the answer to your question, and much more. 😉 You may get an inkling as to why Elvis Costello, Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, and many other artists (and I, of course) think as highly of Jim as they do. When Gurf Morlix resigned as Lucinda’s guitarist, harmony singer, and bandleader, she hired Lauderdale to take his place. I already had all his albums when he joined her for the Car Wheels tour, but hadn’t yet seen him live. Joining them on lead guitar was Kenny Vaughan, now a member of Marty Stuart’s band The Fabulous Superlatives. That they are! IMO, the best band in the land.
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@steve59 no you are not alone. Blinded By the Light is one of my favorites. |
I’m not a deadhead but I enjoy and admire the Band and the Dead’s Americana phase equally. Personally, I don’t perceive the Band’s tunes, overall, displaying a greater "depth" but each to his/her own. I do regard Hunter and Garcia as a significantly underrated songwriting team.
As far as the Dead being first and foremost psychedelic, here is a pertinent quote from the New Directions In Music site:
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Before giving this song a listen, think about where Rock music was in 1968, the year this song appeared on the debut album of The Band. In ’68 everyone I knew was listening to Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, etc. Sure, there was also Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, and a few other Rock Groups incorporating Country elements into their music, but nothing like the Hard Country of a Lefty Frizzell song. Hard fans of The Grateful Dead always claim that band wasn’t playing "catch-up" when they recorded and released their Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty albums in 1970, but in ’68 and ’69 they were still deep in Psychedelic territory, with their Anthem Of The Sun and Aoxomoxoa albums. After The Band’s 1969 second s/t album---routinely cited as the first "Americana" album---sent shock waves through the Rock music world, suddenly The Dead---and a lot of other bands---followed suit, but none with the depth The Band possessed and exhibited. "Long Black Veil" had been a Country & Western hit by Lefty---cited by Merle Haggard as a major influence---in 1959, but it was new to me when in 1968 I heard Music From Big Pink. What an odd choice for a cover song, ay? Brave, daring, and evidence of a deep-rooted sense of identity. The Band---then still known as The Hawks---spent all of 1967 in the basement of the Big Pink house with Bob Dylan, recording all manner of songs. I’ll bet this was one the fellas worked on. Absent was drummer/singer Levon Helm, who had quit The Hawks part way through the Dylan world tour of 1965-6 (two guys I was later in a band with saw Dylan & The Hawks in the San Jose Civic Auditorium, the rat bastards 😉), no longer wanting to be in anyone’s back-up band, nor playing for booing audiences. He went down to the Gulf Of Mexico and worked on an oil rig, that job ending when bassist Rick Danko called Levon to tell him Capitol Records had offered them a million bucks to record an album. Levon was on the next plane to Upstate New York. 😊
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