One week ago in this space we launched a new regular feature: Dan Alford’s Friday Mix Tape. If you missed it, you’re dead to us. But we press on…
We’ve got some gritty, rootsy, mostly early-seventies guitar rock this week. First up is a foot-stomping good cover of Back to Memphis from The Band, complete with Bill Graham’s whacked-out introduction. Next up is a wonderfully low and lazy version of Dylan’s It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, one of the very few moments that that Allmans and GD Camps crossed paths.
Then in an intro that outdoes Uncle Bobo’s, John Lennon and Mick Jagger trade lines to introduce The Dirty Mac, a supergroup that just crushes the Lennon/McCartney blues, followed by the rootsiest of Americana rock, a classic rendition of Hot Tuna’s Rock Me Baby. The mix culminates with a jaw dropper from Neil and Crazy Horse from the first release in Neil’s archival series. Enjoy!
Back to Memphis — The Band (Watkins Glen)
Train to Cry — The Grateful Dead w/ Dicky Betts and Butch Trucks (6/10/73)
Intro — Jagger and Lennon (Rock and Roll Circus)
Yer Blues — The Dirty Mack (Lennon, Clapton, Richards on Bass, Mitchell)
Rock Me Baby — Hot Tuna (Historic Hot Tuna)
Cowgirl in the Sand — Neil Young and Crazy Horse (Fillmore East 1970)
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Dan, nice work again…that Bill Graham intro > Back To Memphis was my daily first-song-on-my-walk-to-work music for about three straight months at one point.
I like how Billy calls Garth “the incredible man on the organ,” because if any true genius in the history of music has been lost in the shuffle, it’s Garth Hudson.
That Cowgirl in the Sand is money, too.
Dan! These are absolutely wonderful!!
I still have the Watkins Glen bootleg you sent me :]
and I agree with Ace, Garth Hudson is the Bach of our time!!
Hot Tuna is a staple of any great musical diet.
Much love!