MP3 of the MONTH
Released 2009
Tracks:
"Brokedown Palace"
This month's track is a basement demo of the Grateful Dead classic "Brokedown Palace." It originally appeared on their American Beauty record, one of their least challenging but most satisfying and enduring releases. I say "least challenging" mainly because the songs are tight, the playing is inspired and everyone is singing short folk-country-rock songs in key. Call me crazy, but I prefer this second incarnation of the Dead, when they had dialed back some of their early freeform psychedelia and delved into more classic Americana fare.
This demo is really bare bones--I recorded it quickly and sent it on the day of the gig to a musician who was accompanying me that night. It sounds really simple, but there are a few tricky parts, and I wanted him to hear my take on it a time or two before we did it onstage. When I cover songs, I try to do them as much from memory as possible, rather than parking myself in front of the speakers and transcribing things phrase by phrase, note for note. This way, I am forced to bridge the gaps in my memory of how the song goes with my own style, rather than aping the original. I don't always come up with a radical re-interpretation of the song I'm covering, but I might get a few turns of phrase that sound more "Erelli" than I would otherwise.
"Brokedown Palace" is available as a free download for the month of July. Enjoy!
written by Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia