For this remake, Wilson and producer Rivers replaced the original's rueful melancholy with something approaching desperation, with an appropriately kickass blues/soul backing track to match.
I've been trying to find out who played the slide guitar on this thing for years. Given that it was recorded in L.A., my guess is that one of the players is either Ry Cooder or Canned Heat's Alan Wilson (no relation to the singer), who were to my knowledge the only hotshit slide guys doing session work in those days. It's also conceivable that it was Jackson Browne collaborator Jesse Ed Davis (of "Doctor My Eyes" fame), who I believe may have been working in town around then, and I'm also told that the late Jerry Cole (who played rhythm on the original "Mr. Tambourine Man") played slide on sessions from time to time.
If anybody knows definitively, I'd buy them a drink.
5 comments:
I've always held Cooder out as the soloist here. It sounds like his playing. I wonder if Alan Wilson (genius that he was) had the personality for session work. Joel Tepp did some LA sessions at this time, too, and so did Steve Mann.
According to Discogs, the flip side of Lodi was By The Time I Get To Phoenix, which appeared on the album Searching for the Dolphins, which was produced by Johnny Rivers & came out the same year as the single. Lodi is not on the album. The guitarists listed on the album are James Burton and Joe Osborn (Osborn is listed as "Bass, Guitar"). Was Burton know for playing slide?
Not to my knowledge, but he played dobro on a Buffalo Springfield track, so it's plausible.
Now, THIS is a great cover. You're right about the slide, but I'm gonna give a shoutout to the baritone sax.
Damn, that slide bounces with joy. It has Ry Cooder's sound and touch.
Post a Comment