The Super-Terrific Gillian Welch: Revival Demos

The seriously under-appreciated Gillian Welch makes a showing on this lowly blog today, and in a big way too. Most of you have probably heard of Gillian, especially if you follow the music of longtime pal Ryan Adams, where she often shows up as the interesting sidekick no one ever cares to check out after. Of course, she also collaborated on Heartbreaker and the Destroyer sessions (along with partner David Rawlings), and is the original provider of the amazing "Orphan Girl", covered by Emmylou Harris on Wrecking Ball. Revival was Gillian's debut and closest shave with mainstream fame (1997 grammy nominee, Best Contemporary Folk Album).

Here are the 1995 demos for Revival, performed with David Rawlings. As far as I can ascertain, only four songs from the demos make it into the final recording unchanged, and Red Clay Halo appears on Gillian's third full lenght, Time (The Revelator). Others appear to be unreleased to date, or released with changed titles (leave a comment if you know better).

455 Rocket
Play It Slow
Tear My Stillhouse Down
Orphan Girl
Pass You By
One More Dollar
Red Clay Halo
Birds Of A Feather
Making Time
I Don't Want To Go Downtown (Keen)
We Must Look Like We're In Love
Forty One Dollars And Change
Unfinished Business
Why He Needs Me

Buy Gillian's music. If you want the lossless versions of these, email me to set up a trade.