Forced online this year, the New York Guitar Festival has been sharing videos — daily, since May 4 — of artists performing songs by the great blues singer-songwriter, the Rev. Gary Davis. Jorma Kaukonen, Rosanne Cash, Don Flemons and Bill Frisell have already been among the contributors, and today’s video is a wonderful take on Davis’ uplifting “Let Us Get Together” by Teresa Williams (vocals) and her husband, Larry Campbell (guitar). You can watch it below.
The video is particularly noteworthy because of the participation of Campbell, who began showing symptoms of COVID-19 in mid-March and soon became seriously ill. “This thing has been a beast,” he said in an article posted on Rolling Stone’s website April 2, after the worst stage of his illness was over.
In a video posted on Facebook April 29 (see below), Campbell, now recovered, said he was overwhelmed by the support that fans showed while he was ill.
New York Guitar Festival videos with new versions of Rev. Gary Davis songs are being posted daily at 4 p.m. The remaining ones will be by Warren Haynes, May 14; Larkin Poe, May 15; and an encore video by Frisell, May 16.
The videos are being archived at youtube.com/user/guitarfestival/videos.
For information, visit newyorkguitarfestival.org.
The festival, created in 1999, normally presents concerts at various New York venues.
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