Tag Archives: Dave Matthews

Videos of the day: Govt Mule covers All Along The Watchtower

watchtower2

All along the watchtower must be one of the most covered songs Bob Dylan has ever written, and there are some good ones, and yes, also the greatest cover of them all. Jimi Hendrix made it his own and Dylan even altered his way of playing the song after hearing Jimi’s version, or so the story goes…

The three takes we are going to present today are very different, very jazz-tinged and very good!

The first is from Mountain Jam 2009 with Karl Denson on Saxophone, he does a tremendous job! Warren Haynes’s guitar is equally impressing in this 13 minute masterpiece.

Gov’t Mule – All Along The Watchtower (2009):

“For nearly three decades, legendary saxophonist Karl Denson has been getting crowds around the world out on the dance floor. Approaching iconic status, Denson has moved bodies and minds dating back to his earliest years with Lenny Kravitz’s band through his ongoing tenure as a founding member of seminal boogaloo revivalists The Greyboy Allstars and his current roll as a member of San Diego dub rockers Slightly Stoopid. Nowhere, however, is this more apparent than with his own band, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. Touring relentlessly for the past 15 years and leaving a massive audience in his wake.”
– Karl Denson’s Facebook page

Our second choice is recorded Dec 16th 2006 at the Warren Haynes 18th Annual Christmas Jam. We get a groovy take with Gov’t Mule, Dave Matthews and Branford Marsalis. Warren’s playing is even better than in the first video.

Gov’t Mule – All Along The Watchtower (2006):

Our last version is an audience recording, but very lively and close to the band. Members of The Sanctuary Blues  joined Govt Mule’s 1st 10-year anniversary Concert at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, SC 02.06.2014. The sax solo is switched for fantastic trumpet and trombone solos.

Gov’t Mule – All Along The Watchtower (2014):

What a soulful voice Warren Haynes has!

– Hallgeir

Today: Joan Baez is 72

Joan Baez

And Joan Baez means more to me than 100 of these singers around today. She’s more powerful. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we respond to. She always had it and always will, power for the species, not just for a select group.
~Bob Dylan (to Neil Hickey, Sept. 1976)

“I’ve never had a humble opinion. If you’ve got an opinion, why be humble about it?”
― Joan Baez

I went to jail for 11 days for disturbing the peace; I was trying to disturb the war.
~Joan Baez (Pop Chronicles interview – 1967)

Diamonds and Rust – Live, 1975:

baez & dylan

Baez & Dylan – Blowing in the wind – 1976/05/23:

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Joan Chandos Báez
Born January 9, 1941 (age 72)
Origin Staten Island, New York City, United States
Genres Folk, folk rock, country
Occupations Musician, songwriter, activist
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele
Years active 1958–present
Labels Vanguard (1960–1971)
A&M (1972–1977)
Portrait/CBS (1977–1981)
Gold Castle (1987–1991)
Virgin (1991–1993)
Guardian (1995–2002)
Koch (2003–present)
Associated acts Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Judy Collins,Donovan, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Mimi Fariña, the Grateful Dead, Janis Ian, the Indigo Girls, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Rocker T, Dar Williams
Website joanbaez.com

Joan Baez (pron.: /ˈbaɪ.ɛz/) (born January 9, 1941 as Joan Chandos Báez) is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace, and environmental justice.

Baez has a distinctive vocal style, with a strong vibrato. Her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues.

Baez began her career performing in coffeehouses in Boston and Cambridge, and rose to fame as an unbilled performer at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She began her recording career in 1960, and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan BaezJoan Baez, Vol. 2, and Joan Baez in Concert all achieved gold record status, and stayed on the charts of hit albums for two years.

baez & dylan2

Baez has had a popular hit song with “Diamonds & Rust” and hit covers of Phil Ochs’s “There but for Fortune” and The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. Other songs associated with Baez include “Farewell, Angelina”, “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word”, “Joe Hill”, “Sweet Sir Galahad” and “We Shall Overcome”. She performed three of the songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down:

Baez has performed publicly for over 53 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the 1960s, encompassing everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music. Although a songwriter herself, Baez is generally regarded as an interpreter of other people’s work, having recorded songs by The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, Jackson Browne,Bob Dylan, Violeta Parra, Woody Guthrie, The Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen, and many others. In recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle and Natalie Merchant.

Album of the day:

Diamonds & Rust (1975):

Joan Baez - Diamonds Rust

Other January 08:

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