I’ve never heard the Keith and Donna solo material, but they did have Jerry playing guitar on it. Showboat was one of the songs to appear on their Keith & Donna album, released in 1975. Apparently the Dead rehearsed the song as well, which is presumably where this version originates, but they never played it live.
This is only the second song that I’ve ever heard Keith Godchaux sing, the first being Let Me Sing Your Blues Away from the Wake of the Flood album. He’s actually got a pretty decent voice and I think that he would have been better at the higher harmonies that Phil attempted in the early 70s than Phil. I presume that his shyness got in the way of his willingness to sing live. Pity.
Anyway, this track is from the bonus disc that came with the Beyond Description box set, so it’s likely very hard to track down. It’s a shame that the Dead camp won’t re-release all the bonus discs they’ve done over the years in a big box set, or at least as lossless downloads. C’est la vie.
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[youtube=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6U23iOzRUc”]
This version is much better than the album version IMO. Donna doesn’t appear on this song until the very end on the studio album–a big mistake I’d say.
The Keith and Donna album is fun but it’s not that great; then again, my expectations were pretty high since I like those two very much. Keith sings a little too much on it for my liking.
Interesting thought about Keith singing backing vocals instead of Phil. I agree that Phil didn’t sound too good at times in the pre hiatus days. It’s been awhile since I heard a live version of Let Me Sing Your Blues Away but I wasn’t very impressed with Keith’s vocals in those instances. But he very well might have sounded better than Phil on some songs.
I don’t think I’ve heard any of the live Let Me Sing Your Blues Away or the Keith & Donna album. So that leaves only the studio LMSYBA and this song as the extent of the Keith vocals I’ve heard. I wouldn’t be surprised if the shy Keith’s vocals didn’t translate as well live. It seems like the band was always looking for a high harmony singer and it seems like Keith could have fit that bill, but I don’t know how much, if at all, the band ever encouraged him to sing.