Saturday, June 01, 2013

Compare, Contrast

Former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker is well into his second musical incarnation, recently releasing his third country album, True Believers. The first single from the record is a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's Wagon Wheel, chorus and melody by Bob Dylan, lyrics by Old Crow's Keith Secor.

I actually wasn't aware of Rucker's version until Wilmington StarNews sportswriter Brian Mull tweeted this earlier today:


And so I went looking for the new recording. I like it, but it's an awesome tune, so it'd be hard to really mess it up. It's cleaner and maybe a bit more refined than Old Crow's version, a little more radio-ready. See what you think:



Here's the original version. As Mull later said, it's got a raunchy quality that's been smoothed over in Rucker's cover. Secor's 'rock me, Mama' has an edge to it that the erstwhile Hootie's never approaches.



Enjoy a little Saturday morning missin' your lady music while you wait for the Teej to preview the Tribe's baseball game. Good for your soul.

16 comments:

rob said...

just read about the most lucrative song ever recorded. guessing august gathering here can figure out what it is.

Mr KQ said...

Ice Ice Baby?

T.J. said...

We can only hope

rob said...

italian ice baby?

rob said...

embarrassment of sporting riches this evening: tribe/wolfpack, bruins/penguins, sox/yanks, heat/pacers.

Mr KQ said...

31 minutes for last game and tiebreak in 4th set of Isner - Haas match. Isner faced 10 set points, won em all. On to the 5th. Dude likes the long matches.

Mr KQ said...

Uhh make that 12 match points.

Matches? We don't need no stinking matches.

zman said...

I have no soul.

zman said...

As with any Hootie cover, the original is better. Hootie added a drum so that knuckleheads could find the beat, but it destroys the authenticity of the homespun southern lyrics. It should sound like a bunch of random guys sitting on a porch with whatever instruments the can find, not a professional ensemble with a drum kit.

zman said...

Alize Cornet! And her legs!

T.J. said...

zman, warning, another Tribe baseball post is on the way. start chugging that haterade

rob said...

the song in question spawned a brand that grosses more than $100m/year. it's not lucrative because of royalties from the song itself.

Lumpy said...

Margaritaville

Love the roanoke shout out in wagon wheel

Mark said...

I care about exactly one of the sporting events Rob mentioned earlier.

And the Gator baseball season has come to a merciful end at the hands of Valparaiso. 29-30 (Spurrier voice)...not too good

T.J. said...

tribe baseball post is up...sorry Hootie

Anonymous said...

Great song and props to Hootie for doing it, but he can't keep up with Old Crow, not even close. And Dylan rocks all yall out the water. Jus' sayin'.