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.