I love comparing different versions of the same song. There’s
something very telling about the way an artist covers a song written and
performed by someone they admire. They have 3 choices; they can take the song
to a whole new level, as Joe Cocker used to do with Beatle songs; or they can
stick to the script, which sometimes can be pretty tepid. The third choice is
to improve upon the original without taking anything away from it, yet at the
same time putting your fingerprints all over it in a way that actually honors
the original.
That 3rd choice is exactly what Jorma Kaukonen
did with his cover of Doc Watson’s “Blue Railroad Train.” When Doc wrote and
sang this song back in 1991 he was a tired old fellow. He had just lost his son
a few years earlier in a farming accident. You can hear it in his voice. Merle
was the son who played a “happy” guitar, like Mississippi John Hurt. And Jorma
Kaukonen has that same “happy” sound to
his guitar on this track. Of course he can also be really “down” when he wants
to be; or it is necessary to convey a song, but here he plays homage to Merle
by adding that “happy” sound to the original by Doc Watson.
When you listen to his cover of the song you have to wonder
how the recording by Doc Watson would’ve sounded had Merle Watson still been
alive. I suspect it would have sounded just like this.
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