Rising Son
1978
One Night
About This Album
A 1978 live album recorded with the group Shenandoah (not the country-pop band of the '80s and '90s but a strange conglomeration of bluegrass, rock, and jazz players), One Night is a quirky blend of traditional folk songs and unusual covers. The covers range from a bluegrassy take on the Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face" (quite nice) to the old Elvis (by way of Furry Lewis) hit "One Night" (not at all successful, since Arlo Guthrie has never been known for his soulfulness). The excellent stretch of traditional tunes at the end of side one is the musical highlight of the album, moving from the cowboy standard "Buffalo Skinners" to the early jazz stylings of the instrumental "St. Louis Tickle." Almost all of side two is filled up with one of Guthrie's signature shaggy dog stories, "The Story of Reuben Clamzo & His Strange Daughter in the Key of A." Adapted from an old sea shanty, this is much more a comedic monologue than it is a song, and as much a political commentary as either (it's a subtle tale concerning the Clamshell Alliance, a group opposed to the Seabrook nuclear power plant in Guthrie's adopted home of Massachusetts).
Track List

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