Joe Satriani, May This be Love (Waterfall). The Hendrix tune, masterfully done on acoustic guitars.
Doc Watson, Moody River
Dick Dale and the Deltones, Misirlou. Before Clapton, before Bloomfield, my first guitar hero. "King of the Surf Guitar." Pipeline (with Stevie Ray Vaughan). Nitro (with So Cal scenes). Let's Go Trippin', 1961. Not a drug reference. Pre-LSD. The first surf instrumental?
Cowboy Jack Clement, A Girl I Used to Know
Freddy Fender, Cielito Lindo. Tex-Mex version of a very old song.
Marty Robbins, La Paloma. Another old song dating back to 1861.
Barbara Lewis, Hello Stranger, 1963. 1963 was arguably the best of the '60s years for pop compositions.
Emmylou Harris, Hello Stranger. Same title, different song. This one goes out to Mary Kay F-D. Remember the Fall of 1980, Mary Kay?
Get up, rounder/Let a working girl lie down/ You are rounder/And you are all out and down.
Carter Family version from 1939.
Joan Baez, Daddy, You've Been on My Mind. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Bruce Langhorne's guitar.
Joan Baez, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Langhorne's guitar.
Joan Baez, A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Langhorne's guitar. The incredible mood of this version, especially the intro, is made by Langhorne and the bass of Russ Savakus, another well-known session player from those days. I've been listening to this song since '65 and it gives me chills every time.
Carolyn Hester, I'll Fly Away. Dylan on harp, a little rough and ragged. Langhorne on guitar? Not sure.
Joan Baez and her sister, Mimi Farina, Catch the Wind. Fabulous.
Joan Baez, Boots of Spanish Leather. Nanci Griffith also does a good job with this Dylan classic.
Betty Everett, You're No Good, 1963. More soulful than the 1975 Linda Ronstadt version.
The Ikettes, I'm Blue, 1962.
Lee Dorsey, Ya Ya, 1961. Simplicity itself. Three chords. I-IV-V progression. No bridge.
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