Covering Bob - The Right Way

So my son Jake is insisting on watching some Fox evilness named "The Next Great American Band". Tonight's show apparently required all participants to cover a Dylan tune.



Call me an old curmudgeon, but wow did all these groups just suck! I really mean suck. The lack of dynamics and lyrical sensitivity in their arrangement, playing, delivery was complete. Covers should change the delivery and flavor, but never lose the soul of the song. The very best covers ever (Bruce's encores in the early days, for example) renew the soul, and practically force the fan to (re)turn to the original artist! How many Gary US Bonds albums do I have, you ask?

Anyway, I play in cover bands sometimes. I just hate bad covers, and I especially hate bad Dylan and Springsteen covers. This is religion to some people, and you just have to respect that. If you can't do it well, please, just do not do it at all.

Anyway, while this travesty was blaring in the background, I'd been thinking a bit about Bruce Hornsby, as he's playing in NJ this evening while I'm up in Boston visiting friends and suffering 40-odd hours of Red Sox Withdrawl. (Off nights in the world series are just torture, especially up here!) Hornsby just did a jazz album with a couple of stellar players, Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette, which I haven't picked up yet. But a number of samples from the tracks are stream-able here and it sounds sophisticated and a tad experimental, very intriguing.

Originally planning to write on Hornsby in particular, but unable to find a critical mass of free stuff worth posting, I turned to archive.org for tunes from his tenure with The Grateful Dead in 90/91. Now I admit I am largely stuck in the 70s when it comes to the Dead -- I love 72-74 specifically -- but I did enjoy the shows with Hornsby quite a bit. What I didn't realize was that the band did a wide variety of Dylan covers over this period, some of them done really nicely (unlike the TV posers that I may not soon forget no matter how hard I try.) Even when they don't get close to the intensity of the original (Tom Thumb, Queen Jane) they still demonstrate their reverence for Bob, and I love them for it.

Here's a smattering of Dead/Hornsby on Dylan worth checking out:

it's all over now baby blue 5/10/91 shoreline
maggie's farm 5/10/91 shoreline
memphis blues again 12/30/90 oakland coliseum
when i paint my masterpiece 9/15/90 msg
all along the watchtower 9/15/90 msg
just like tom thumb's blues 9/21/90 boston garden
queen jane approximately 12/12/90 mcnichols, denver

and here's Hornsby's original tune "Valley Road", absolutely renewed with the Dead as a joyous shuffle.

valley road 12/30/90 oakland