A number of years back, I saw an exhibit at a NYC gallery that consisted of many, many versions of The Last Supper by Leoanrdo Da Vinci, all painted by painters of differing skill levels and styles. Some were well executed, professional, and some were crude and amateurish. But they all, especially in the context of the exhibit, had a vibrancy that came from the original composition. It was a very interesting show and I carry strong memories of some of those versions of DaVinci’s masterpiece.
I was reminded of this when I came across this version of the rock classic Whole Lotta Love from Led Zeppelin. It’s from the San Francisco based band The Waybacks (featuring guest vocalist John Cowan from New Grass Revival) and is from a performance at Merlefest in 2008. Merlefest is an annual festival of folk and Americana music that takes place in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It was started by the great Doc Watson in 1988 to honor his son and guitar playing stage partner, Merle, who had died a few years earlier in a tractor accident.
I thought of The Last Supper show from this because it’s often interesting to see how a composition works in different genres and styles. This version from The Waybacks is based on acoustic instruments but still maintains the potency of the original, while forming a slightly difefrent feel and translation. I’ve talked about this in this post before when I painted a series of gray and black pieces based on my typical landscapes. They were the same but had a different feel with the differing treatment.
That’s how this feels– the same but different.
Redtree Times 