In 1973, Bob Dylan played a small role in Sam Peckinpah’s film, “Pat Garret and Billy the Kid.” He also agreed to record the soundtrack which gave us “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” and the sublime “Billy.”
Dylan began recording the album in Mexico City and finished up in LA. In those LA sessions, as was his way, Dylan noodled around with some new songs. One of them earned the name, “Rock Me Mama” because of its chorus. He never finished the song, never published the lyrics, it was just another shard of creation that he left behind.
Jump ahead a few decades when high school student Keith Secor comes upon a bootleg recording with the snippets of Dylan’s unfinished song. The sound transfixed him and he soon began fleshing out the lyrics. A combination of confidence and foolishness led Secor to reach out to Dylan to ask permission to complete the lyrics, thus Secor and Dylan co-wrote what we know as “Wagon Wheel.”
Secor had a band, Old Crow Medicine Show, and they cut a studio version in 2004 without gaining much notice. But the band liked the song and made it a key part of their live performances. The audiences loved it and soon the song gained traction. There was a time you could not walk down a college dorm hall or walk into a party without hearing “Wagon Wheel.”
Darius Rucker knew a great tune when he heard one and had a history of picking up on Dylan songs with his original band, Hootie and the Blowfish. He turned the ditty into a country hit.
#Songoftheday #wagonwheel #dylan #keithsecor #oldcrowmedicineshow
YouTube: https://youtu.be/1gX1EP6mG-E?si=CYD0sUo1zNzaU-uL
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