American Tune - 10/14/2017

The closer from our October 14, 2017 show, "American Tune," with Chris Thile, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Margaret Glaspy, Rachael Price, Rich Dworsky, Matt Chamberlain, Brittany Haas, Paul Kowert, and Sean Watkins
www.prairiehome.org/shows/58957

[@triciabeaird9212]

Saw this live. I will remember it for the rest of my life.

[@zoomonkeydotcom2005]

Goosebumps and tears 😭- my great grandfather was an immigrant and he played mandolin and was a proud American

[@contrebasse71]

Very beautiful rendition. An American Tune with an intro of a song from Bachs Passion of Matthew...

[@mattkomprood]

Chris Thile and Rachel Price singing Paul Simon - doesn't get any better than this.

[@sharkbait430]

Indeed it does. Margaret Glaspy nails her verse as well.

[@anthonysalvati5868]

Just found out they are playing together at Tanglewood next month, I will be there.

[@AsHaDoWsTlRThNrSoUl]

how about Art singing it, sounds a ton better than this shite

[@jdp1950]

Two masters performing a masterpiece.

[@jeffgaumond4250]

@@AsHaDoWsTlRThNrSoUl Pearls before swine.

[@eugenekim571]

Phenomenal. What a gift that we can enjoy this performance at any time!

[@jeffolefson9415]

Paul Simon wrote so much beautiful music.

[@Ottee2]

Wow, so good. I'm glad they released it.

[@JohnLumpp]

Beautiful!

[@Gusrikh1]

Beautiful.....

[@modernknightone]

Amazing!

[@cf6880]

Absolutely Brillian

[@kurtaaron9478]

Not any easy song to pull off for anyone. Nicely done!

[@williamfritz189]

Holy and brilliant. Paul Simon made self-deprecating fun of his poetic pretensions but the poet's words ring true over time and this set totally names where we are/were the night this was broadcast. Loved all the performances! But they were brilliant I humbly think because in each way they totally delivered the work of art. Bach's tune brings a medieval mystic's penitential lament to the service of this hope for some kind of mystical redeeming of America's people's betrayal of her promise. But you hear if you know the other one, in these far more relevant words, the same sorrowing hope: "O let me never ever outlive my love to thee." Let it never fail to hurt to imagine Liberty sailing out to sea, and may our faith in her promise never die.

[@motocephalic]

great job!

[@paullamontagne1899]

Interesting how Chris sings it in the style that Paul Simon originally had done it, (more or less) but does it in the higher key that Art Garfunkel had always done live. True greatness, folks!!!! ;-)

[@margicates553]

paul lamontagne he does it higher so the ladies can sing it. It’s not in a very friendly key for female voices.

[@Claudiahochow]

(Denmark) Lovely tenor Voice Lovely song 🌹

[@Stadtpark90]

Thanks for not autotuning.

[@bulleranse8323]

Beautiful Bach Hymn

[@elizabethlinsay9193]

This is nice. Also check out The Starland Vocal Band's accapella version.

[@jonysanup]

Have a listen to Kurt Elling singing An American Tune, Sublime.

[@matthirn7858]

Great to hear Rachael Price nail her part on Live from Here. Quite often these quickly put together performances can be a stretch for a performer.

[@gidon567]

Great start, such a shame it gets lost later on.

[@haneena4560]

Couldn’t agree more

[@carlosgrammatico4553]

Muy bueno!!!!

[@connopv]

Nice

[@dominickb7046]

Chris nail this one, Rachel is Rachel...always !!

[@bobbobness4479]

If you cant say anything nice then say nothing... I'll stay schtumm.. Rachel, as always, wonderful. I'll leave it there

[@donaldandbecki]

Rachel Price saved this song!

[@HenkeEdge]

Yeah she is great. The brunette that where singing in three diffrent voices destroyed the whole thing.

[@neewollah19]

I feel like they had some sound problem leading to some dissonances...

[@johnvoyce]

I love Chris Thile's mandolin playing but his singing is just okay. The women, on the other hand, send shivers down my spine. WoW! Rachael and Margaret's singing. You can't beat Garfunkel but you come close.

[@dalemesserly4425]

She should do it with Willy that would be amazing

[@nextworld9176]

NOpe. Great song. But why did the sing it in the key of squeak?

[@fungui2008]

Loved the vocals. Mandolin, not so much.

[@joshl.772]

He sounds like James Taylor!

[@jeromebrich9155]

Chris has a great voice, but not like JT.

[@davidtonkin109]

Hand out the Ventolin…we can all have two puffs and breath again.

[@glendale6]

This song is on par with any s and g song paul wrote. Love it. Is Rachel dating anyone?

[@willdwyer6782]

Paul and Art have actually sung it in concert together. Check out the concert they performed in Central Park.

[@user-ct4rf6xm9n]

やるじゃん

[@ryanstevens11]

who the hell disliked this?!

[@sethfisher5081]

I'm not crazy about this version even though I like the performers individually but not enough to dislike

[@renofernley]

it all was wrong

[@yuuyakeojisan]

I can clearly see that all the singers love this song. But I hesitate to sing this song in public. This song is about Paul Simon's very personal experience. Great song, but I feel a little uncomfortable when I hear other people sing this song.

[@darnelacat]

AllenToussant

[@mikediggin7268]

Who is the knucklehead that criticized that first girl she's so natural and beautiful and so is her voice

[@davidespinosa1910]

Allen Toussaint, same tune: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2ewp2OOYpakgqM

[@jasont79]

Not an easy song to sing--especially finding a key that works for 2 ladies and a fella. The main issue is the mix--it's way too dry. Need a tiny but of reverb and maybe some more high end? The acoustic guitar was out of tune (2:52). Other than that--phenomenal musicians doing a very difficult song. The only version that compares to the original is Darrell Scott's.

[@jweyek]

Chris Thile, Rachel Price, Paul Simon and Johann Sebastian Bach, his melody. The other woman was really out of tune.

[@brianmcdougal6669]

jweyek agreed

[@brianmcdougal6669]

jweyek rachel price nails it!

[@jweyek]

I wasn't talking about Rachel Price. I agree. She always nails it.

[@dogphlap6749]

Reading comments about "American Tune" about 5% of the comments usually claim Simon stole this tune from J S Bach but Bach got it from other sources who got it from others going back who knows how long, 12th century maybe. After so many hands I think we can call it traditional. Paul did write the middle eight and the lyrics and for me that is good enough. For those who prefer a Choral work by JSB they are also available through KZbin or iTunes etc.

[@bgbreakdown]

Kinda. Hard song- hard key,

[@LarryBloom]

Sorry, but when you listen to those voices, you have to wonder why they all didn't shut up and just let Rachel Price sing.

[@selurusey]

What's wrong with the lady singers? They can't keep up. It's as if they can't hear anything. Not the band. Not themselves.

[@bippy201]

Yeah that kinda bothered me. Thile sounded great, but they both sounded off

[@debbiewheeler4066]

Right, the ladies are singing off key. Too bad

[@williamwooten3658]

The woman who sang after Chris was really bad

[@andrewadame4426]

William Wooten I think her name is Rachel Glaspy

[@orchidwave2574]

@@andrewadame4426 Margaret Glaspy. And personally I have no issue with her phrasing or note choices.

[@ianburry5629]

Such a shame...

[@Gianmariareal]

Shit

[@pacoblancosmith]

The second vocalist was terrible....you only had a verse....learn the words and song....the rest was great....

[@orchidwave2574]

Actually, the only glaring mistake was Chris messing up the entry into the final verse, the vocal phrasing is fairly unforgiving if you don't come into it properly - they recovered very well from that. Margaret Glaspy was fine, she simply chose different phrasings and note choices that were still valid for the context.

[@Mooseman327]

@@orchidwave2574 Yeah, bad phrasing and note choices. She was a mess.

[@orchidwave2574]

@@Mooseman327 I'm a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist myself. I can't sing to save my life, so I have proper vocalists interpret my material. I'm used to vocalists often having starkly different but still interesting personal stylistic interpretations of what I've written. Some drive me nuts, others are really cool (even if they're way different from what I initially imagined the song to be). Glaspy sounded fine to me, but I'm already a fan of her material, so I kinda knew what to expect from a Glaspy-style vocal on a Paul Simon cover. Someone new to her singing and delivery might not be ready for it.

[@flippetskater]

Oh man, the girl on the second verse was *terrible*. Off-key, and horrible enunciation. Chris was great, though - his voice has that slightly plaintive quality that fits the song so well.

[@blanchedesmas]

The first woman signing is very bad...

[@PaulMAssante]

Did everyone learn this song 10 minutes before performing (singing wise)? Way to make this song uninteresting and water-downed. Paul Simon sung this song with such profundity and tone which was not accomplished here.

[@jodacapo3613]

Elle n’a pas de voix ! Elle ne sait pas chanter ! C’est mauvais ! Le mec chante très bien 👍

[@Mooseman327]

Never have so many labored to produce so little. That was simply awful. The principal irony here is that Margaret Glaspy can't carry the tune called "American Tune." Pulling someone out, at random, from the audience may have delivered a better result. At least Price can sing but the song isn't a good fit for her either. Even the always-dependable Thile is out of sorts. Just a train wreck...a boring, slow-motion train wreck. The musical nadir of Live From Here...one hopes.

[@cinnamongirl7877]

Totally agree. Absolutely HORRIBLE. The second woman......terribly flat

[@dunhillmax8134]

You guys need a practice, practice, practice seriously. You guys simply smash and break Simon's beautiful song into kinda knightmare. What's wrong with you? You guys need to shame on you!.

[@gilraenn29]

Not ready for prime time singers. Awful, just awful. Sad, really.

[@johndixon5806]

Butchered a beautiful song. Don't even listen.

[@donnamicci9996]

A great great song. This song is Paul Simon's greatest creation. It is simply lovely. And this group did it very well - except for that middle girl. She kinda kill it.