Cover Wars: Lenny Edition
Lenny is the tenth and final track on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 1983 debut album Texas Flood. The song’s title is a tribute to SRV’s wife Lenora Bailey.
Jeff Kitts sums up this tune very well in the book Guitar World Presents Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Like any master musician, Vaughan was just as comfortable with slow, delicate ballads as he was with barn burners. Vaughan composed the beautiful ballad, “Lenny,” for his first wife, and recorded it on Texas Flood. “Lenny” is very Hendrix influenced; it’s sort of a cross between “Little Wing” and “Angel,” two of Hendrix’s greatest ballads.
The Contestants:
The Bridge: The Bridge guitarist Cris Jacobs leads the band through this relatively to-the-point rendition. Source: 2-28-2007
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John Mayer: This brief studio cover was released as one of two bonus tracks for Mayer’s 2001 Room For Squares release. Source: Room For Squares
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Mayer playing Lenny and Man on the Side from the Any Given Thursday DVD:
Pickin’ On Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Pickin’ On Series can be pretty hit or miss with me, but it’s a great concept and I think this one works particularly well. Source: Pickin’ On Stevie Ray Vaughan – A Bluegrass Tribute
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Soulive: Ladies and Gentleman, Eric Krasno. In addition to being a live staple, and frequently a lead-in to the Soulive tune Turn It Out, the band also included a live recording on their 2003 self-titled live album. Source: 5-17-2001
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Some recent video of Soulive:
Umphrey’s McGee: In UM’s take on Lenny they manage to not only feature Jake Cinninger, but also a big piano solo from Joel Cummins. Lenny is quite the rarity these days in the rotation, if it makes it to the stage normally it has taken some sort of pleading from HT contributor Wade. Source: 10-29-2004
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Some video from a performance in 2008 (Lenny starts at about the :35 mark, watch out for some goofy Joel-related stage antics):
Checking in on our last edition of Cover Wars, which was a few weeks back, Phish just barely beat out Derek Trucks Band when we looked at covers of Sweet Virginia. An interesting note: When Phish performed this for the second time, in their full performance of Exile On Main Street, Jon Fishman took over lead vocal duties even though Page McConnell had sang the tune back in 1999.
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