Saturday, February 20, 2010

Elvis Costello and Friends Play Dead

In what has to be the greatest television show in history, Elvis Costello's "Spectacle" featured an episode with guests Allen Toussaint, Levon Helm, Nick Lowe, Richard Thompson, and Larry Campbell. That would be cool enough, but imagine my surprise when they busted into the Grateful Dead classic "Tennessee Jed"!

A fantastic version of this kicks off Levon's excellent "Electric Dirt" release from last year, but this is a kick just to hear Costello sing it and to relish in Toussaint and Thompson's great musical flourishes. Jerry Garcia would be very proud.

After years of trying to explain to people that The Dead were far richer then just stoned, noodling jam musicians, you have no idea how happy I am that folks are finally noticing how great their songwriting was. This may just be one of my favorite covers of all time!

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