Song 380: This week’s spot on the playlist goes to Yankee Lady by Jesse Winchester, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it here. At the turn of the 1970s, the solo singer/songwriter era unfolded, with acoustic-guitar-wielding types like James Taylor, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell getting a lot of attention. Jesse Winchester, with an eponymous debut LP produced by The Band's Robbie Robertson, might have had a similar shot at the spotlight, but perhaps because of his inability to tour the U.S. due to his status as a Vietnam War draft dodger residing in Canada, he never got the acclaim that those other artists did. I liked what I heard from that first album, though, and I made sure to add it to my collection, soon learning to play this tune, as well as a couple of other cuts from the record. Like Jesse, I too have taken An autumn walk on a country road With a million flaming trees and these days, I understand feeling a little uneasy when there's a winter chill in the breeze, which I have felt once or twice lately. I will also confess to finding inspiration in Jesse's last verse here, where he speaks of seeing himself as a stranger by his birth. I used that as the basis for the lyric of my song Waylaid the Stranger, and you can find a rough cut YT video of that by clicking on the title.
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