Sunday, May 15, 2011

Deana Carter & Heart: Go Rest High Upon That Mountain

Before I delve into today's post, I want to warn those that steadily follow this blog that I am slightly changing the format of the blog tomorrow. Since the very beginning of my posts in September 2009, I haven't touched the format for Monday's selections and have reserved it for song covers. I am somewhat dispensing of this format and making changing the feature to Mélange Mondays.

With the changes I enacted with Wednesday's, Friday's, and Saturday's features at the beginning of the year, I discovered that I backed myself into a corner on what type of songs I might spotlight on any give day. Since I've never changed Monday's feature, I decided on a mélange of material - in other words, anything that happens to strike my fancy. Tomorrow - 3 Greeks, 1 German, and a Pole in a unique metal band.

Now, on with the show - this is it . . .

I am always looking for interesting songs to feature on “Reading between the Grooves” and I stumbled on this interpretation of the Vince Gill country hit by Deana Carter and Heart. “Go Rest High on that Mountain” comes from the October 31, 2006 airing of Craig Ferguson’s “Late, Late Show.”

I really like their version of Vince Gill’s tune that won Gill a pair of Grammy Awards in 1995 – “Best Country Song” and “Best Male Country Performance.” It is said that Gill started this tune after Keith Whitley died in 1989. Unfortunately, another tragedy inspired Vince to finish the song in 1993. This was the untimely death of Vince's brother Bob who died of a heart attack that year.

Singing lead on the first verse is Deana Carter. She is the daughter of musician Fred Carter, Jr. who passed last year. Carter is best known for her #1 and CMA Song of the Year – “Strawberry Wine.”

Joining carter on stage is Ann and Nancey Wilson of Heart. I’ve had the opportunity to see Heart three times – once in the 70s and twice in the 80s and met with Ann and Nancy backstage twice. It is nice to see Ann Wilson playing flute again – something she did quite frequently in Heart’s early days.

The thing that has me curious about this song is the instrument that Nancy Wilson is playing. It has six strings like a guitar, but it sounds like an Irish bouzouki. It is a solid body with wood styles that remind me of Alembic made instruments in the early 80s. The pickup appears to be a Dan Electro style. For lack of anything better, I am going to take a wild guess and say that it is a solid body electric 6 string domra – with three courses of strings tuned E A D. This guess is largely based on the sound and shape of the instrument.


This song is from Cracker Barrel’s CD/DVD “Songs of the Year” collection from 2006. Nancy Wilson commented that “The idea for this version was to take it to a gospel/acoustic/rock place and really strip it down to the bare bones. This song is built so well it could be done in any style in any era and still feel timeless.”



Lyrics


I know your life
On earth was troubled
And only you could know the pain
You weren't afraid to face the devil
You were no stranger to the rain

Go rest high on that mountain
‘Cause, aon, your work on earth is done
Go to Heaven a shoutin'
Love for the Father and the Son

Oh, how we cried the day you left us
And gathered round your grave to grieve
Wish I could see the angels’ faces
When they hear your sweet voice sing

Go rest high on that mountain
‘Cause, son, your work on earth is done
Go to Heaven a shoutin'
Love for the Father and the Son

Go rest high on that mountain
‘Cause, son, your work on earth is done
Go to Heaven a shoutin'
Love for the Father and the Son

Go to Heaven a shoutin'
Love for the Father and the Son

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