Pickin' on ZZ Top

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 17 Apr 2000 8:03 am

This was forwarded to me in email by a friend. Sorry I don't have the URL. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>
<u>Country Releases</u>
by Michael Simmons
<h2>VARIOUS ARTISTS: PICKIN' ON ZZ TOP
(CMH)</h2>
One of the weirdest country CDs to appear in the last few years has to be Pickin' on ZZ Top: A Bluegrass Tribute, a collection of ZZ Top songs played as bluegrass instrumentals. On the surface, the project seems like a cosmic mismatch between material and instrumentation, but banjos, fiddles, Dobros, and mandolins work surprisingly well on songs like "Legs," La Grange," and "Sharp Dressed Man." The bluegrass versions manage to exploit the one common element between the high lonesome sound and electric boogie: the blues. Both bluegrass and ZZ Top's music have deep roots in the blues, and the secret to playing the blues well has more to do with having the right attitude than it does with having electric guitars, stacks of amplifiers, or long beards. These acoustic players sure have the right attitude. The musicians include some hot pickers, like guitarists Bryan Sutton, Kent Truitt, and Kenny Blackwell; banjoists Richard Bailey and Dennis Caplinger; fiddlers Sara Watkins and Gabe Witcher; and Dobro player Rob Ickes. CMH has released some other CDs in the Pickin' On series, including tributes to Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks, George Strait, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 17 Apr 2000 8:49 am

Even more strange, there is an album from 1995, with of Motown hits like "HOld on I'm Coming", "My GIrl", "Sweet SOul Music", and others, done BLueGRass style.
Can't recall the name of the band, I'll check my collection & edit later.
Bernie Leadon was in the group, it was kind of a take off on rap music.

Rich Paton · Post by **Rich Paton** » 17 Apr 2000 12:41 pm

Bo...was it "Run...C&W" as in a parody
RUN DMC? If so, it's funny,...

There has been a fairly recent trend
in the last 5 years or so for Bluegrass bands that record albums (CD's) to cover classic rock tunes, which in a way seem like they are almost parodies...but not really.
A very popular group from this area did a cover of Cream's "White Room" around 5 years ago, but it works very well for the tune. Lately I see more and more of this. Most are really cool.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Apr 2000 2:43 pm

Our group does a version of Tush sometimes. It is a slow, sultry, kinda country-blues feel.
It goes over pretty good as a slow song and most folks figure out what song it is after the first verse and it gets 'em goin'. We do a section during the solos that mimics the repeated, desending vamp from Pink Floyds "Money", and the ending is reminicent of Neil Youngs "Cinnimon Girl".
For whatever reason, folks seem to like the part where our female vocalist sings about Going downtown, Lookin for some TUSH.

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 17 Apr 2000 3:45 pm

It was "Run C&W" & it was funny , but the music was very good.
I used to a blue grass style version of "I've Just Seen a Face" (Lennon & McCartney) & a honky tonk version of "Stairway To Heaven" with a band called Western Electric.
It is amazing what you will play in a club setting!1

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 18 Apr 2000 9:46 am

Since our band's roots are Bluegrass, we occaisionally do a few tunes in that style - "Brand New Man" (Brooks & Dunn), "Hello Mary Lou", "Great Balls of Fire", "Bye Bye Love", and others. It's a lot of fun, and people seem to like it!

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 18 Apr 2000 2:28 pm

How about what Del McCoury did with smokin Gun

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 18 Apr 2000 8:47 pm

....Or, Nashville Cats!

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 19 Apr 2000 6:09 pm

I know this is a little off the topic, but there's a really loose and juiced ZZ Top LP, which has been a budget Cd reissue for years.

It's their first LP from 1970 or 1971 {depends which discography you read}, but it's simply titled 'ZZ Top's First Album' and features a lot of country funkin' blues jams, where the boys just work around a bunch of laid back grooves while Billy Gibbons squeals and pinches out all these funky little 'pinch harmonic' leads.

It doesn't have the metallic rhythm crunch of their later 1970's LP's and certainly not the computerised 1980's stuff.
Very raw and funky and the best songs they've ever had, just looser than the rest of their material.

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Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 20 Apr 2000 9:55 am

Run C&W did a blurgrass version of James Brown's "I Feel Good" that's both hilarious and terrific.