Yesterday, I was driving down the road, and found myself spinning both of Sturgill Simpson’s Cuttin’ Grass bluegrass albums like there was no tomorrow.
It still blows my mind that somebody is able to take just about every song from their past albums, and completely do a 360 and turn them into some pickin’ and grinnin’ bluegrass songs.
Anyways, back to the point of this article.
After I got done playing the albums, Spotify went straight to shuffle, and I accidentally came across one of the greatest bluegrass covers I may ever hear for the rest of my existence…
And it was “Baba O’Riley” by the folk and bluegrass group The Ghost of Paul Revere.
For those who aren’t familiar, “Baba O’Riley” is widely known as one of English rock band The Who’s greatest songs, off their 1971 Who’s Next album.
And while the song is not called “Teenage Wasteland,” just about anybody born before 1995 has screamed “It’s only teenage wasteland, YEAH” once or twice in their life.
I’ve always been a bit skeptical of bands flipping a major hit song into a completely different genre of music, but I gotta say, The Ghost of Paul Revere did it to near perfection.
From the banjo pickin’ at the beginning (which mimics that signature synth lick) of the song that immediately grabs your attention, to the borderline spiritual in nature vocals of the group, this cover about had me ready to go to war.
I’m just trying to figure out how I’ve gone this long without hearing this cover, considering it was released on their 2015 Field Notes, Vol. 1 album.
Nevertheless, better late than never, right?
Check it out:
And the original:
