Carolina Coverfolk, Redux: Songs of the South
from Red Molly, Steve Forbert, Cris Williamson and more!
I’m down in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina once again, just like last year, on the cusp of a whole week of for what is fast becoming an annual gathering of extended family and friends.
We left just after school on Friday, and I did the lion’s share of the driving, just over twelve hours of overnight while the kids and spouse napped in the car; since we hit the sandy soil of Kitty Hawk just before sunup this morning, we’ve hit up sand and surf, sucked down breakfast barbecue and beer, eaten sweet frozen custard and bought new floppy hats on the tourist walkways, and stared at enough ocean to resalinate a nation’s saltcellars.
Unfortunately, what with the overnight drive and a wee bit too much time in the sun this afternoon, I’m feeling far too loopy to cope with anything new. So here’s last year’s set — a host of coverfolk which celebrates the Carolinas, heavy on the southern appalachian sound — with the promise of something slightly more original when my brain recovers. Hope no one minds the reposted material. After all, this is a vacation.
- Red Molly: Oh My Sweet Carolina (orig. Ryan Adams)
Previously-featured sweet-voiced femme folk trio Red Molly covers this bittersweet tribute from North Carolina native son Ryan Adams with dobro, guitar, and harmony on their first full-length album, the live Never Been To Vegas.
- Mud Acres: Carolina in My Mind (orig. James Taylor)
Another song by a native son, this one reinvented as a ragged hootenanny by Happy Traum, banjoist Bill Keith, bass player Roly Salley (who penned the oft-covered Killin’ The Blues) and others from the mid-seventies Woodstock, NY Mud Acres music collective.
- Cris Williamson and Tret Fure: Carolina Pines (orig. Kate Wolf)
A languid, mournful country ballad of loss and emptiness from Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf. One of Kate’s best, and the harmonica and slide on this powerful cut from Cris Williamson and Tret Fure make it that much better.
- Mike Seeger and Paul Brown: Way Down in North Carolina (trad.)
The title cut from Way Down in North Carolina, lovingly gathered and performed by collector of traditional song Mike Seeger and pal Paul Brown, is a fiddle tune at heart, true appalachian music from the old school. Timeless, true, and perfect for the back porch or the back country.
- Steve Forbert: My Carolina Sunshine Girl (orig. Jimmie Rodgers)
Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert swings this short but sweet old tune with a wry touch and his signature vocal strangle. Off Any Old Time, Forbert’s tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, king of the cowboy yodel.
Cover Lay Down publishes every Sunday, Wednesday, and the occasional otherday, regardless of stress or relaxation. Stay tuned later this week for a feature on at least one regionally-relevant folk band…plus more tales of sunburn and surf!
Category: reposts
April 19th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Hope your enjoying the Outer Banks - beautiful part of the world. Thanks for the Carolina inspired covers.
April 20th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Don’t forget Robbie Schaefer’s (from eddie from ohio) “Carolina” from his new CD “Strange and Lovely World”.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 am
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May 9th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Don’t mind at all!
Thanks for the tunes.