SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1996).
I’m not sure who the first band to cover this fantastic Charlie Daniels Band song was, but Primus probably had the largest profile when they released it–even if they credited themselves as Festus Clamrod and The El Sobrante Twangers.
The song came with an excellent animated video. Unfortunately, it was only ever available with the video. It was eventually released on the vinyl reissue of Rhinoplasty, but you still can’t stream it on Spotify.
Which is a shame because it’s a real hoot.
Les Claypool excels at the story-song, so him narrating the story works perfectly (it’s just him and the drums for the verses). Mark “Merv” haggard does a perfect young Johnny voice and Brian Kehoe is the great growly devil.
There’s some excellent fiddle work throughout the song (nothing deviating too much from the original,but played perfectly). The violin is credited to Violina Mysteriosa (um thanks?).
It’s got some slide guitar (from Merv), but when the middle bridge come in it’s got lots of Primus-oddball guitar but the melody is spot on and Les’ voice has a delightful country twang to it.
When the band of demons joins in, the song goes bonkers with some weirdo guitar twanging from Ler and some noisy distorted bass from Les. It sounds great, although I do miss the actual band of demons song which I’ve always thought totally kicked butt.
When Johnny starts playing, it’s all violin and Les stompin’ until the band joins in compete with a one-two bass and some slightly improv violin (in addition to the actual melody).
It’s a fun version of the song–not deviating too much from the original, but clearly Primus’ own.
[READ: November 3, 2020] The Big Break
I have really enjoyed everything that Mark Tatulli has written. He’s a bit off my radar though, so I wasn’t aware of this full length graphic novel (or his previous one Short & Skinny).
This book is about two seventh grade boys, Andrew and Russ. They have been friends for years and have done everything together. Right now their project is to make a short film for The New Jersey Middle Grade Movie Viral Video Contest.
They have the perfect concept: The Jersey Devil!
Now, being from New Jersey, I found this concept to be wonderful. I grew up hearing rumors about the Jersey Devil (even though I am hours from its haunting grounds). Tatulli grew up in NJ as well, and he was obsessed with the devil (he lived closer to the PIne Barrens, I believe).
Their movie is a half-true / half-fictionalized account of their attempts to find the Jersey Devil. It’s a kind of Blair Witch Project for middle schoolers. Of course, they don’t have a Jersey Devil to film and their Play Doh monster is pretty lame. But the rest of the film is really good. They just need a good ending and they are on their way to becoming filmmakers–this will be their big break! (more…)
