Johnny Cash, Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart, and Mark O’Connor’s blazing, inspired sequel to Charlie Daniels’ classic mega-hit, which follow-up I must confess I’d never heard of before.
WHOA, that’s good squishy! But…can it really be 45 years since the original was first released? I can’t believe it; dammit, I WON’T believe it!
(Via Bayou Peter)
Update! In keeping with my long-cherished belief that one good Charlie Daniels tune deserves another, here’s my friend Bart Lattimore with his own re-imagining of another CDB classic.
Back in the day, I used to play backup for Bart on the regular, and came up with a swampy-sounding electric guitar riff (think the intro to the Blasters’ “Dark Night” wedded to CCR’s “Run Through The Jungle,” say; I certainly did) which set this tune off quite nicely, if I do say so myself…and I do.
Nicely enough, in fact, that the BPs ended up adopting his/our version to close our encore sets out with. On the frequent occasions when Bart opened shows for us, he’d sometimes join in and sing it with us, which was always a heck of a lot of fun. Alas, I checked, and there appears to be no Innarwebs-available video record of those BPs/Lattimore collaborations, which is a crying shame. They exist only in my own dusty, cobwebby memory now, and possibly Bart’s.
Updated update! What the hey, since I figger many of y’all won’t be familiar with the Blasters, enjoy yourselves a latter-day live rendition of “Dark Night.”
Blasters fans out there, if any, will realize right away that the above video ain’t them, and they’d be right about that. It’s Blasters lead singer/rhythm guitarist Phil Alvin wailing away in Pittsburgh with what I can only assume are some local unsung bar-band heroes. As it happens, Phil was also on the bill for the BPs farewell performance at CLT’s Neighborhood Theater seven years ago or thereabouts. A genuinely nice guy, Phil Alvin is—warm, friendly, sincere, not a jot or tittle of ego, pretense, or arrogance about the man.
Well, just dayum! I’ve never heard the follow up either and it is exceptional just as the original.
Thanks Mike!