Thursday, September 24, 2015

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The New Basement Tapes

Artist:The New Basement Tapes
Song:Duncan and Jimmy
Album:Lost On The River




The New Basement Tapes is a supergroup put together by producer T-Bone Burnett to celebrate some long lost Bob Dylan songs. My guess is this is a one shot group but the album is worth getting. Back in 1967 after his motorcycle accident, Bob Dylan recorded what is now known as The Basement Tapes in Woodstock, NY with musicians that we would later know as The Band. These recordings were not supposed to be released but Columbia did release them in 1975 mainly to combat bootleg recordings of these sessions. At the same time, Dylan wrote a bunch of songs that he never finished and the handwritten lyrics were in a box for all these years. In March 2014, Dylan's publisher approached producer T-Bone Burnett about possibly finishing these songs and recording them. But Dylan didn't want to record them himself. So Burnett put this supergroup together and the CD was released Nov. 2014 under the name The New Basement Tapes. The best known member of this group is Elvis Costello. The others are Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Rhiannon Giddens of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Session musician Jay Bellerose played the drums. Johnny Depp appears on one song when Costello was unavailable. The idea was that each of these five musicians would finish a few of the songs and then take turns singing lead. Duncan and Jimmy was finished by Rhiannon and she sings lead and plays banjo. I saw Rhiannon a couple of years ago with The Carolina Chocolate Drops and if you haven't seen her before, she is quite a revelation. She recently released her debut solo CD. This process of recording this album was filmed as a documentary for Showtime. And the band toured and appeared on TV. The CD is available in a deluxe edition with five bonus tracks. I don't expect a second CD from The New Basement Tapes as all five musicians have busy careers. But the CD is worth checking out. Here's The New Basement Tapes featuring Rhiannon Giddens performing Duncan and Jimmy on The Jimmy Kimmel Show Nov. 19, 2014.

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