Song Review: Andrea Whitt, Nate LaPointe & Paul ILL - “Dark Star”
How to cover a song that is less a composition and more a vehicle for psychedelic improvisation?
When that song is the Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star,” you cover it exactly as Andrea Whitt, Nate LaPointe & Paul ILL did for Whitt’s “Steel Your Face Sundays” series.
That is, you follow the Dead’s lead while also taking your own path.
The result is a remarkable performance that finds pedal steeler Whitt, singer/electric guitarist LaPointe and upright bassist ILL lassoing the essence of the song better than any post-Grateful, Dead spinoff has managed and channeling the father band’s late-1960s/early-1970s musical ethos clearly and emphatically.
Chalk it up to ILL and LaPointe aping Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia, respectively, thus freeing Whitt to fill all the other necessary spaces.
No drums?
No problem.
Whitt adds all the secret sauce necessary to create a credible remake of an incredibly difficult-to-remake number.
Grade card: Andrea Whitt, Nate LaPointe & Paul ILL - “Dark Star” - A
6/12/23