Boots No. 1: The Official Revival Bootleg
To mark the 20th anniversary of her remarkable 1996 debut, *Revival*, Gillian Welch and perennial collaborator Dave Rawlings sifted through their vault. The dusty Americana tracks here are deeply rewarding: There are strikingly tweaked alternate versions of album cuts; raw, revelatory demos that have the faint whiff of unearthed front-porch recordings; and a trove of contemporaneous covers, jams, and other gems. Collectively, they offer insight into Welch’s evolution as a singer, songwriter, and performer, and into her invaluable partnership with Rawlings.
On this collection of officially sanctioned archival bootlegs, we can hear the roots country icon Gillian Welch in the process of discovering and honing her inimitable voice.
When Gillian Welch released her debut album, Revival, in 1996, plenty of listeners and critics were taken aback by her strikingly accomplished re-creation of the sound and mindset of country music of the '20s and '30s, as if she'd miraculously stepped out of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music into Nashville in the late 20th century.
It's coming on Christmas, and no doubt the shelves are stocked with deluxe this, complete box set that; but Gillian Welch's Boots No. 1: The...