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Thread: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    This was posted today on the Richard Thompson email discussion list:



    Martin
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    I may be old but I'm ugly billhay4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Fine job on one of my favorite tunes. My that's a fine sounding mandolin. I base that on only the first 15 seconds of the video.
    Bill
    IM(NS)HO

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    Registered User jefflester's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by billhay4 View Post
    My that's a fine sounding mandolin.
    A person could feel special playing such above the din

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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Yeah, after I heard CT doing that this weekend on Saturday night, I listened again Sunday. And then listened a few times to Richard Thompson's, and then a couple through Del McCoury's version. All mighty fine.

  6. #5

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    All are great versions of a great song. I'd probably pick Del's version as my favorite due to his vocal and the telling of the story.

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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    It's hard to beat Richard's version for me. Great song by a talented musician.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    It's hard to beat Richard's version for me. Great song by a talented musician.
    +25 on RT, though all those other guys are among my favorites, too.
    Jim

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    I've only ever heard Del McCoury's version of it,but IMHO,CT does a great job & it's the first thing in a long time that CT's done something that i actually like ! Purely personal taste,
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  13. #9

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    It's a great song/story and while I much prefer RT's many versions, CT does a fine job as is Del Mc's cover. Thanks for posting Martin.

    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL

  14. #10

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    While we are talking about different versions of this, I've always liked this one by Sean Rowe. But yea, tough to top RT's original.


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    I may be old but I'm ugly billhay4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Yes, Sean's version is something else.
    Bill
    IM(NS)HO

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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    All are great versions of a great song. I'd probably pick Del's version as my favorite due to his vocal and the telling of the story.
    Not to mention a smokin' hot mandolin break. That break is how my breaks would sound in my dreams. Absolutely perfect.
    Gary

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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    In my opinion the criteria needs to be does the artist "get it". The song itself is so great, that every little thing in the performance needs to be in support of the feeling of the song.

    Thile did a great job, no question. But I put him third. IMO Sean Rowe's version gets it the best, or at least tied, with Richard Thompson's.

    What Thile did great, IMO, is prove the mandolin, or his playing, isn't always the point, and that the mandolin can be in service of a good song. In the mando-centric performances, I like his the best. One hears the song, and the narrative of the song, and then realizes oh yea, its a mandolin.
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Mighty fine, indeed. Thanks for posting the Sean Roe version as well, hadn’t seen that one. I’m sure there are some bad versions of that song out there, but it’s such a great song that I’ve yet to hear one...
    Chuck

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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    I'm usually not a fan of artists monkeying unnecessarily with lyrics, but I do love how in Del McCoury's version the original "Box Hill" becomes "Knoxville."
    PJ Doland
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    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    This thread would not be complete without everyone having a chance to listen to Richard Thompson's original treatment, complete with fingerpicked guitar accompaniment. Especially if you're used to the Del McCoury version. Thompson uses an open tuning and capos up to sing it in Bb. Chris Thile sings it in C.


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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    In my opinion the criteria needs to be does the artist "get it". The song itself is so great, that every little thing in the performance needs to be in support of the feeling of the song.

    Thile did a great job, no question. But I put him third. IMO Sean Rowe's version gets it the best, or at least tied, with Richard Thompson's.

    What Thile did great, IMO, is prove the mandolin, or his playing, isn't always the point, and that the mandolin can be in service of a good song. In the mando-centric performances, I like his the best. One hears the song, and the narrative of the song, and then realizes oh yea, its a mandolin.
    I agree with Jeff here.

  26. #18

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    All are great versions of a great song. I'd probably pick Del's version as my favorite due to his vocal and the telling of the story.
    If you analyze what each instrument is doing throughout the Del version, it really is a master class in Bluegrass arranging. There is so much going on, but it is all so tasteful. The drive is perfect for a motorcycle song, it builds to that great hallucinatory crescendo, and then you have Del's conversational singing style (best since Nat King Cole) on top.
    Last edited by JonZ; Apr-12-2018 at 7:25pm.
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    The banjo is a 998cc V-twin engine in the Del version, particularly when everything else cuts out around 3 minutes in. It's perfect, so long as you're OK with the Britishness being stripped away from the song entirely.
    Last edited by PJ Doland; Apr-13-2018 at 12:20pm. Reason: clarity.
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  29. #20

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by PJ Doland View Post
    It's perfect, so long as you're OK with the Britishness being stripped away from the song entirely.
    My relatives came over from Wales four generations ago and to be honest, I still have trouble understanding some of the older ones. I'm guessing without the Del version becoming so popular, I doubt if many here would have even been familiar with the Richard Thompson version, looking it up long after the fact.....

    c'mon, be honest.................................

  30. #21
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    From Jeff above - "..I doubt if many here would have even been familiar with the Richard Thompson version..." Me for one Jeff !.

    I have to admit to being puzzled by a song regarding a classic British motor cycle sung by an American Bluegrass band,
    Ivan
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  32. #22

    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    I'm guessing without the Del version becoming so popular, I doubt if many here would have even been familiar with the Richard Thompson version, looking it up long after the fact.....

    c'mon, be honest.................................
    Some of us have been aware of Richard Thompson since the 1960's Fairport Convention releases, performances with his wife Linda and later performances with his electric bands. I've seen him live several times in my hometown of Providence, RI. The Del McCoury Band came much later into my awareness. This thread is my first exposure to Sean Rowe and he is a great interpreter of the raw emotion of this song and much closer to Richard Thompson's performance than to the Del McCoury Band's, but they are all great.

    Ivan, I have to admit to being puzzled by your lack of familiarity with a fellow Brit of such extraordinary writing, playing and performing stature as Richard Thompson. He's the real deal, even from this Yank's perspective across the pond.

    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL
    Last edited by lenf12; Apr-14-2018 at 9:21am.

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  34. #23
    Registered User Polecat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall View Post
    I have to admit to being puzzled by a song regarding a classic British motor cycle sung by an American Bluegrass band,
    Ivan
    Maybe an australian would be less confusing:
    "Give me a mandolin and I'll play you rock 'n' roll" (Keith Moon)

  35. #24
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Quote Originally Posted by lenf12 View Post
    Some of us have been aware of Richard Thompson since the 1960's Fairport Convention releases, performances with his wife Linda and later performances with his electric bands.
    I think outside the global mega stars, "fame" is quite compartmentalised. Because of the close association of the mandolin with bluegrass, Del McCoury is a big deal here on the Cafe. Richard Thompson has been a big deal in UK folk circles since the late 1960s, and became a big deal in US alt.rock/indy music in the 1980s with "Shoot Out The Lights". In the UK, RT is clearly the bigger name. In the US, it's harder to say who of the two is the bigger draw in absolute numbers (gig attendance, albums sales, money made, media appearances, or however you want to measure it), but I would think that RT and Del have relatively little overlap in core audience. RT has been a darling of the rock music press for a long time, so many mainstream rock listeners at least know his name, while Del gets recognised by mainstream country listeners even if they don't go out of their way to find bluegrass.

    For me personally, I have been a fan of Fairport and RT since the 1980s, but the first time I heard Del McCoury's name was when he covered VBL. I only got to know bluegrass a bit better after taking up the mandolin, some years later.

    Martin

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    Registered User Mark Seale's Avatar
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    Default Re: Chris Thile covering 1952 VBL

    Another great version:

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