Quick and Dirty Folk

So here's my idea: Make a series of quick and dirty recordings (single take, no fixups) of my versions of a bunch of traditional songs. Record them directly onto my little Tascam DR-1 recorder, and post them. My original idea was to do one every day, but the day after the first one, it became clear that it wasn't going to happen. But the first is ready to go. It's 'Shenandoah' which has always been one of my favorite melodies. I found many different sets of lyrics to this song, as I probably will with most of these. In some versions, the song is a kind of tribute to the river of the same name, often seemingly by someone longing to go back there after leaving. In others, the name Shenandoah refers to a Native American chief, whose daughter is loved by a white man. In fact, the versions by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen flesh out that storyline. But I found the less-specific verses more intriguing, perhaps because of their vagueness. They seem to present more of a mood piece than a specific story. So I cobbled together a couple of different ones, rewrote one line, and sang it. So this is just me in my basement with my 12-string on Thursday June 11, 2009 at about 6:00 in the morning (virtually the only time of day when the house is quiet.) Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Available at my Reverb Nation profile.
Or download it directly by clicking here: Shenandoah (traditional)