Country Blues > Weenie Campbell Main Forum
Great covers
Johnm:
Hi all,
I was thinking recently, in the wake of the discussion on originals versus recreations in Country Blues of the whole concept of "covers", and how sometimes the cover can be so strong and distinctive that it doesn't really suffer at all by comparison with the original recording of the same song. If I relate it back to my high school days, Gladys Knight and the Pips had a hit with "I Hear It Through The Grapevine" which was great, but then Marvin Gaye did his version, which took it to a whole new level.
Anyhow, I got to thinking about Country Blues covers which I think are exceptionally strong, and came up with the following--
*Johnny Shines's "Ramblin'", after Robert Johnson's "Walking Blues". Johnny Shines' singing on that number is incredibly good.
*Larry Hensley's "Matchbox Blues" after Lemon's song of the same title. Hensley comes up very strong.
*Johnnie Temple's "The Evil Devil Blues" after Skip James's "Devil Got My Woman". Johnnie's weird duet with Charlie McCoy and eerie vocal make this one really distinctive.
Any other favorites out there?
All best,
John
outfidel:
Mance Lipscomb's version of "Jack o' Diamonds"
Son House's acappella version of "John the Revelator"
frankie:
I've really been entertained lately by a lot of the performances on Blues Up The Country, a Vestapol video. One that knocks me out every time is John Jackson doing Blind Blake's "That'll Never Happen No More". He just takes it and runs off with it, showing just how much he's musically his own man. It's got some truly slippery licks in it!
GhostRider:
Howdy:
One cover I really like is Ernie Hawkin's cover of Blind Blake's "Chump Man Blues" off "Mean Little Poodle". Dave van Ronk also did a great cover of this tune, but Hawkins version adds some great up-the-neck single string work in D during the breaks. This version really opened my eyes to things that could be done in this key.
All the best,
Alex
Blueshome:
How about the numerous covers of Booker White's Shake 'em Down - especially Tommy McClellan, Big Joe Williams, & Bo Carter's eccentric version?
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