Gillian Welch Covers:
John Hartford, Neil Young, Greg Brown, Townes Van Zandt & more!
April 7th, 2010 — 09:58 pm
The songs of Gillian Welch – predominantly written and performed by Welch and her long-time partner David Rawlings – have been a constant presence here at Cover Lay Down, both here-and-there as warranted, and in two discrete features: the first a 2008 tribute to the artist, the second a 2009 ten-track collection of covers of the song Orphan Girl.
As such, we’ve written about the musical duo known as Gillian Welch thoroughly, and there’s little need to recap, save to note that if you don’t already own her entire four-record discography, you really, really should take the time to pick it up.
But although the Gillian Welch songbook is so highly respected as to offer an extraordinarily rich and diverse opportunity for those of us who appreciate the tribute and transformation that coverage brings, so, too, do the archives host a precious collection of Welch’s own interpretation of others’ songs, rarities and b-sides all, from the broken-souled troubadour poets Townes Van Zandt, John Hartford, and Robert Earl Keen to Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Gram Parsons, and other astute chroniclers of the human condition.
And tonight the unseasonable heat wave here in New England pushes down on the soul, putting us in mind of some true-blue dustbowl-driven American Primitive music: sultry, sepia-toned, heroin-paced, thick with drawl and Rawling’s ever-so-sweet harmonies and trademark 1935 Epiphone guitar, and steeped in the sweat of the downtrodden, the lean, the hopeless, and the God-forsaken. Bring on the good stuff.
- Gillian Welch: I Don’t Want To Go Downtown (orig. Robert Earl Keen)
(from the Revival demos, 1995)
- Gillian Welch: Pancho & Lefty (orig. Townes Van Zandt)
(live bootleg, circa 1997)
- Gillian Welch: Snowin’ On Raton (orig. Townes Van Zandt)
(live in Germany, 1999)
- Gillian Welch: Hickory Wind (orig. The Byrds)
(from Return of the Grievous Angel, 1999)
- Gillian Welch: Pocahontas (orig. Neil Young)
(from Music From The Revelator Collection, 2001)
- Gillian Welch: In Tall Buildings (orig. John Hartford)
(from Live From Mountain Stage: A Tribute to John Hartford, 2001)
- Gillian Welch: Summer Evening (orig. Greg Brown)
(from Going Driftless: An Artist’s Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002)
- Gillian Welch: Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor (trad., via Mississippi John Hurt)
- Gillian Welch: I Had A Real Good Mother & Father (trad.)
(from Soul Journey, 2003)
- Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch: I’ll Fly Away (orig. Albert Brumley)
(from O Brother, Where Art Thou, 2000)
- Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Green Pastures (trad.)
(live, unknown source, 2001 )
- The Chieftains & Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Katie Dear (trad.)
(from Down The Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions, 2002)
- Robin Hitchcock, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Trying To Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door (orig. Bob Dylan)
(from UNCUT magazine’s Tracks Inspired by Bob Dylan, 2004)
Today’s Bonus Track: Welch and Rawlings haven’t released an album under the Gillian Welch name since 2003 tour-de-force Soul Journey, but last year’s A Friend Of A Friend, which was released under the Dave Rawlings Machine moniker, is still a partnered work, albeit with Rawlings’ voice and slightly sharper string-style at center stage, and it features a delicious dual Conor Oberst/Neil Young cover. The pair are pretty bent on keeping the studio recording off the blogs, as is their right, but here’s a live version done up right from a recent visit to the Daytrotter studios.
- Dave Rawlings Machine: Method Acting/Cortez The Killer (orig. Bright Eyes / Neil Young)
(from a January 2010 Daytrotter session)
Previously on Cover Lay Down: Gillian Welch covers Radiohead’s Black Star, plus two solar systems’ worth of other coversongs about space.
1,470 comments » | David Rawlings, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch