Wino Wednesday: Covering Motörhead and Lynyrd Skynyrd Acoustic, Oct. 2010
Of the various covers Wino did on his solo tours earlier this decade and tours in the duo collaboration with Conny Ochs, taking on songs from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Townes van Zandt, and Lynyrd Skynyrd as he does here, I don’t think any cover was quite as steady as Motörhead‘s “Iron Horse.” Performing on Oct. 15, 2010, in Manchester, England, at the Star and Garter, Wino talks a little bit about finding Motörhead‘s woulda-been 1975 debut On Parole after its release in 1979 and how “Iron Horse” has stayed with him since. We all have those songs, and he treats the Motörhead cut with due reverence, here pairing it with Skynyrd‘s “On the Hunt,” taken from 1975’s Nuthin’ Fancy.
While it may or may not have the same kind of emotional attachment with it as “Iron Horse,” the second cover in this medley is particularly interesting because “On the Hunt” is also a song The Obsessed tackled, some nine years earlier on their 2001 split with Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod‘s The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight. That split was the last studio material The Obsessed put out — never say never — and the song also appeared on their 1999 compilation, Incarnate, and he performed it live with Solace in 2000, so it’s obviously the product of a long-standing appreciation as well. All the better to put them back to back.
Wino would’ve had more than a few months on the road on his own at this point, and his comfort level on stage shows it. He’s joking with the crowd, getting some laughs, telling stories, and in the middle of ‘On the Hunt,” he feels loose as he works his way through what it took Skynyrd upwards of 18 guitarists (give or take) to get across.
The video cuts off at the very end, but it’s still more than enough to make the point. Hope you enjoy and have an excellent Wino Wednesday:
