2:27
Ramblin' On My Mind, 1979
Written by Will Shade, c. 1927-1930?
I thought that this song, from Williams' debut album, might be a cover of the sublime Lovin' Spoonful song of the same name, but it's not. It is, however, a cover. I could not find any solid information about the original, but it seems clear that it was performed by the Memphis Jug Band, a band that performed from the late 1920s to the 1950s. Like the Spoonful song, it's a celebration of the music itself, a tribute to the communal, homemade joy of jug-band sound. "Well, I went to my man, put my hand on his knee / Said, 'If you can't play the jug, you can't play with me.'" Williams' voice here is younger, rounder, and less weathered than the drawl we'd come to know; her strummed 12-string and the easy shuffle of the arrangement make it feel like a front-porch party recorded in one take, an affectionate nod to a vanished era that suits her perfectly.
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