The legendary Bob Dylan continues to inspire, and Jessica Rhaye & The Ramshackle Parade’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” captures a fresh, rich, and lively new take on the classic, lesser-known ballad.
From their album Just like a Woman – Songs of Bob Dylan, Jessica Rhaye’s sixth full-length album, this is also her first with backing band The Ramshackle Parade.
“The original [song] is 5 verses long and takes up the whole side of Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album. We trimmed it down to just the first 2 verses,” Rhaye said. “Originally, we tried for an old-style folk sound, but that was too close to Joan Baez’s arrangement. Clinton [Charlton] came up with this pop arrangement, breathing new air and a unique feel on a song that Dylan says was the best song he ever wrote.”
“There is something about Bob Dylan’s songs that we connect with,” Rhaye said. “The melodies and Dylan’s simple ease of delivery when singing and performing his songs, we feel like there’s an invitation, like it’s ok to feel like they can be our songs.”
“Dylan always approached production with a minimalist hand. The real people, the noises of the shirt buttons, chairs scraping the floor or mistakes people made, these were allowed to stay in the final tracks, rather than cut out on the editing floor. These features always made Dylan’s work accessible…you could always tell, there were real people somewhere in a room playing these tunes together. That’s what we hope listeners take away from this record.”
The Ramshackle Parade are Chris Braydon (electric guitar & vocals), Sandy MacKay (double bass, mandolin & vocals), Clinton Charlton (drums), Bill Preeper (electric/acoustic guitar & vocals), and Dale Murray (producer, Engineer, multi-instrumentalist). Catch them on tour in Canada until the end of November.
Watch the video for “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” below and hear more of Jessica Rhaye’s music on Spotify, visit her website for tour dates, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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