Bluegrass covers

[fearfaoin]

As far as I know, Hayseed Dixie was the first
to bring it the attention the mainstream, but
it seems that Bluegrass musicians have made
covers of a lot of Rock music. I thought there
might be a unifying theory about which songs
particularly lend themselves to Bluegrass
coverage. So, if you're game, kindly post links
to your favorite (or even least favorite) covers
of non-bluegrass music by Bluegrass bands.
(Audio/video clips are great, but even just
track listings are fine. Enough to just collect
the song as a data point.)

To get you started, here's a few I've come
across already:

Hayseed Dixie covers AC/DC, Kiss, and other
70s and 80s rock. For example, Walk This Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muyqMrsuLXw

Greensky Bluegrass does Pink Floyd's "Time".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cctQ7FPtJ8k

Speaking of Floyd, A California band does the
whole album as a performance in Wizard of Oz
costumes. They call it "Dark Side of the Moon-
shine". (good idea, but doesn't come across as
well as I would've hoped)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKI9K0rcZbY

Iron Horse does Metallica covers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCrJ2jwIaeo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbEl7XUdNI#t=23s

Old School Freight Train does Blondie's Heart
of Glass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4dc0CiMGw8

David Lee Roth got a bluegrass band together
to do an album of Van Halen covers:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CEV4RM

Blue Highway does a cover of Sting's I Hung My Head
which I like much better than the original:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OA ... dm_dp_trk7

I thought at first it was largely limited to 80's era
rock, but someone did an album of Coldplay covers:
http://www.amazon.com/Pickin-Coldplay-B ... B00070Q886
Also, someone here posted a video that I can't find
of Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice, which is a pretty
sweet cover.

So what else you got?

[s1m0n]

I win with Jim & Jesse (McReynolds) And the Virginia Boys' fine LP Berry Pickin' in the Country, their BG stroll through the Chuck Berry songbook. No idea what year, and only one website out there knows I'm not lying.

The used record store I bought it in stickered it " $6- RARE ".

Edited: found a shot of the cover!



And the site claims 1965.

~~

Apart from this, Earl Scruggs wife, Louise, who managed Flatt & Scruggs, had a policy of covering popular music, which lead to a few bad covers of Paul Simon and Bob Dylan tunes, but also to their participation in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's three disk Will the Circle.. project, in which a cast of Nashville veterans thoroughly upstage the country-rock upstarts.

[Denny]

Also, someone here posted a video that I can't find
of Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice, which is a pretty
sweet cover.

this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SunrKwykK_Y

[dwest]

David West has been "Pickin' on" just about everybody.

[jsluder]

More of a parody than a cover, but here's a bluegrass take on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight": The Possum Crawls Tonight (YouTube) by Wild Blue Yonder.

[Denny]

Poor Man's Whiskey Bohemian Rhapsody Hardly Strictly 2006

[dwest]

All Along the Watchtower - Pickin' on Hendrix by David West

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ2FPQO5hbc

[Snuh]

Pink Floyd seems a popular target. Just a few weeks ago a friend loaned me Rebuild the Wall by Luther Wright and the Wrongs, where they redo The Wall track by track.

Here's Comfortably Numb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEvznepd ... re=related

[fearfaoin]

Good stuff, folks!

Pink Floyd seems a popular target. Just a few weeks ago a friend loaned me Rebuild the Wall by Luther Wright and the Wrongs, where they redo The Wall track by track.

Great band name.

All Along the Watchtower - Pickin' on Hendrix by David West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ2FPQO5hbc

Is that a hammer dulcimer I hear starting at 2:00
or is there some banjo technique that sounds like
that?

And you're right, West has covered pretty much
everyone, including John Mayer of all people...
http://davidwest.com/cds.html

[mutepointe]

http://www.wvgazette.com/Entertainment/201002240716

Butch Ross is performing in Charleston, WV tonight. He's playing Led Zepplin on an upside down dulcimer strung like a guitar.

My boss handed me the clipping today during a statewide meeting of our entire program. She thought I might play the dulcimer (I don't). I told her (in front of the whole group) that I wouldn't have enough time to pick up pharmacueticals before the concert. Some folks laughed, do you think anyone offerred to save the day? Noooooooo! Just teasing. They knew I was teasing too.

[fearfaoin]

I win with Jim & Jesse (McReynolds) And the Virginia Boys' fine LP Berry Pickin' in the Country, their BG stroll through the Chuck Berry songbook.
...
And the site claims 1965.

Wow, so a sordid and storied history, then.

And I need to remember to buy Will the Circle
be Unbroken. Thanks for the reminder.

[dwest]

All Along the Watchtower - Pickin' on Hendrix by David West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ2FPQO5hbc

Is that a hammer dulcimer I hear starting at 2:00
or is there some banjo technique that sounds like
that?

And you're right, West has covered pretty much
everyone, including John Mayer of all people...
http://davidwest.com/cds.html

Hammer it is.

[s1m0n]

I win with Jim & Jesse (McReynolds) And the Virginia Boys' fine LP Berry Pickin' in the Country, their BG stroll through the Chuck Berry songbook.
...
And the site claims 1965.

Wow, so a sordid and storied history, then.

And I need to remember to buy Will the Circle
be Unbroken. Thanks for the reminder.

Bill Monroe, true to form, refused because it wasn't going to be about him, but everybody else (almost literally) showed up & had a blast. Doc Watson lead the band and cued the breaks. The between tracks chatter is as good as the picking.

[Denny]

I win with Jim & Jesse (McReynolds) And the Virginia Boys' fine LP Berry Pickin' in the Country, their BG stroll through the Chuck Berry songbook. No idea what year, and only one website out there knows I'm not lying.

The used record store I bought it in stickered it " $6- RARE ".

only $125 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Jesse-Virginia-Be ... =8-1-fkmr0

[Feadoggie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czirN42RKFY

The Rock/Bluegrass synthesis has been going on at least since the late 1960's when I was first learning the bluegrass tradition. For many of us at that time it was a path of least resistence since we were familiar with the rock tunes but wanted to stretch out with the bluegrass instrumentation on material with which we were already familiar (and with which the audience was likewise familiar). Players like David Grisman, Sam Bush, Tony Trischka and many others played rock covers (oh, some banjo player named Garcia). The NGDB were part of that time and place. The Beatle's songs were a favorite target. Our set list included several covers of Beatles songs - Ticket to Ride, I've just Seen a Face, etc. The crowd favorite though was something we called "Inner Geeter D'veeder". Geeter is a Philly thing - the Big Boss with the Hot Sauce, etc.

Trischka is still covering the Beatles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i0lFJWaHWg

Feadoggie