Susan Tedeschi: Lord Protect My Child
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As a coverblogger specializing in folk music, I've posted dozens of Dylan covers in my day, and though there's sure to be some songs too good to pass up, my personal goal not to bring too many repeat tracks to the table this week isn't likely to be much of a challenge: even if I stick to the folkworld, I'm sure to find dozens more tracks as-yet unposted, ripe for the sharing. But sifting through the collection this afternoon, looking for Susan Tedeschi's wonderful blues cover of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (which I've included as a bonus track below), I finally took a shine to Tedeschi's other Dylan cover, a surprise after months of false starts and half-hearted dismissal. Since I can only assume others are likely to experience their first listen as I have, I'm asking you to trust me today, folks: there's something about this cover that merits listening enough times to appreciate it.
New England blues phenomenon Susan Tedeschi is an acceptable vocalist, but she's really most notable for her blazing blues guitarwork; as such, though this is ultimately a relatively faithful rendition of Dylan's mid-eighties melody, those who listen for the vocals to match the yearning keen of Dylan's original father's prayer, originally released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3, may miss the point. And this track is also an anomaly for Tedeschi, one much slower and production-heavy, easily dismissed as one of very few weak cuts on her otherwise-stellar, unusually broad-ranging 2005 covers album Hope and Desire.
But listen again, with an open mind, and remember that Hope and Desire is predominantly a turning point for Tedeschi, one which attempts to redefine her as a frontwoman as much as her previous work defined her as a soulful guitar virtuoso. Instead of her usual raw vocals and loud blues jam guitar mastery, it is the retro gospel blues arrangement (complete with piano and choir), and the subtle touch on the slide which emerges slowly from the stew of sound after the halfway mark of the track, building to a stunningly subtle yet powerfully emotive instrumental solo, which stand out here. The subtlety is not Tedeschi's strong point -- she really shines better on blazing bluesfunk -- but that just makes the song's success all that more effective, when it comes down to it.
It helps, of course, that I consider this to be one of Dylan's most powerful songs. Maybe you have to be a father to understand, but the sentiment -- that your child could be an object of such wonderment, it makes you consider your own mortality with new stakes; that you might thus fear and pray for his safety, should you suddenly not be around -- cuts right to the heart. Turning Dylan's vocal wail into a guitar cry makes it no less powerful; indeed, splitting off the lyric from the instrument of its sentiment creates a mature tension and depth in what was once a much simpler emotional approach. For that, Tedeschi deserves her second listen, and then some.
Of course, subtlety isn't the only form of power Tedeschi has at her disposal when it comes to interpreting Dylan. As promised, here's her earlier take on another of his tunes.
Susan Tedeschi: Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
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