I always love it when Cumberland Blues is in the setlist. Of course, it can be a trainwreck if the vocals aren’t at least decent, but it’s got such great imagery and bops along so nicely that it’s hard to resist. This is one of those songs that would be a lot of fun for a band to cover, but would also be really difficult because of the vocals. Unless, of course, close enough was good enough, but else it could be a sticky number to nail in the live setting. I mean, it was for the Dead (I tend to think) and they wrote it!
This version first jumped out to me because it was longer than I expected (a chunk of that is downtime before the next song though [sad trombone]). But I had ear-marked this for inclusion when I was listening to Dick’s Picks 36 in my car (much like the Bird Song from this release) and was bowled over. Jerry is cooking with gas here and even the extra vamping is fine by me.
Phil starts this one off, quickly joined by Bob and Billy. Jerry joins the mix with that twangy tone and reptilian approach. For a song that relies on good vocal harmonies the band is on point on this night. Jerry plays a fiery solo that could probably hold off the Pinkertons. Bob takes the first part of the “Five dollar bill” verse by himself and Jerry gets the first part of the last verse. After Jerry’s first solo there are several passages where one may expect another solo, but instead it’s mostly just vamping. While the band may have just been stalling for time because of a missed cue or undecided where they wanted to go, to my ear it actually works and gives the song some breathing room. It’s almost like a reprieve for those hardworking folks mining in the subterranean world. The ability to conjure up those images makes this version a standout one in my mind.
Complete Setlist 9/21/72
Previous Cumberland Blues DFAY Selections
