W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

I am by no means a classic country afficienado by any stretch of the imagination. Sure I appreciate and enjoy the classics but I am no expert. But there is one thing that I know for sure. There is a deep rooted history of country duets that are as much a part of the great American song book as anything. The duets of George & Tammy, Dolly & Porter, Loretta & Conway, and Patsy & Jim Reeves to name just a few have sown the seeds for countless pairings going forth over the years in country music. 

When you think of a couple to record and perform some of these classic duets the list is veritably limitless, but the idea of pairing up two unquestionable pedigrees such as Jenni and Teddy is quite honestly a stroke of genius. Jenni Muldaur, after all is the daughter of Maria and Geoff Muldaur, she of the early 60’s Greenwich Village folk scene, then a solo career that brought the world her hit “Midnight On The Oasis” and eventually she’d join up with Jerry Garcia as a member of his Jerry Garcia Band amongst other accomplishments. Geoff Muldaur was a founding member of the seminal Kweskin Jug band as well as a member of Paul Butterfield’s band, a session player for the likes of Bobby Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Garcia and John Cale. He would eventually find a niche as an Emmy Award winning producer and composer of film and television scores. Teddy Thompson is none other than the son of Richard and Linda Thompson. Richard, a former member of the British folk band Fairport Convention would begin collaborating with his future wife Linda in 1973. The two would go on to have a decade long career as a duo creating such masterpieces as I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight, First Light and Shoot Out The Lights.

In any event, Jenni & Teddy who’ve been friends and off and on musical partners ever since their days performing at Fez back in the early 2000’s were enlisted in the duets project by mutual friend David Mansfield during the pandemic. Mansfield had an idea of recording separate EPs of each of the original duos with the first being Dolly and Porter. Ultimately the project bacame a full LP which was picked up by Sun Records and was released officially earlier this year.

With plans to tour the album in Europe in 2024, the two had only performed the album live a handful of times previously, most notably at The Kennedy Center last October. So it was quite the treat when they were brought in for a special evening at (the new to me) Perelman Performing Arts Center down by the World Trade Center.

The two took to the stage promptly (as promised) at 8 PM and with little fanfare delved right into the meat of the duets album. They would ultimately play (I’m pretty sure) each of the 12 tunes from the album plus a couple of others to fill out a beatiful performed set. One of the highlights for me was one of the non album songs they would present to the adoring crowd. Townes Van Zandt’s “If You Needed Me” was absolutely spot on perfect. Interestingly, they did not do the Townes and Emmylou version which is rather upbeat. Instead Jenni & Teddy offered up Emmylou’s version which she did with Don Williams which is a softer, slower and heart wrenching version if you ask me. Also, Teddy’s baritone voice is much more suitable for Williams vocal versus Van Zandt’s.

All in all, we were treated to a wonderful 45 minute set, which may seem short on the face of it, but it was 45 minutes chock full of sacharine, gut wrenching country music like country music used to be, the way it was meant to be.