Bruce was fascinated with traditional American folk and gospel long, long before the Seeger Sessions.
Although it took until his 2006 album for us to hear Bruce’s arrangements, we’d occasionally catch a glimpse through live tracks like “This Land is Your Land,” and compilation releases like “We Shall Overcome.”
But way back in the autumn of 1981, Bruce was tinkering with the classic gospel hymn “Precious Memories,” and he happened to capture it on tape–and that tape happened to leak. Take a listen to the fascinating one-minute, double-tracked snippet below. (That’s all that we have.)
It’s difficult if not impossible to judge from the recording if there was a particular version that influenced Bruce to tackle “Precious Memories.” Dozens of artists have covered it going back to the 1920s (it was written by J.B.F. Wright in 1935) in a variety of styles. Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s version was one of the more prominent early recordings…
but given Bruce’s country-ish arrangement, it’s possible that Willie Nelson’s version (released in 1976) was at least somewhere in mind.
In any event, as far as we know, Bruce never recorded “Precious Memories” in full and has never covered it live, so we’re left to wonder what he might have done with it with a band as talented as he assembled for the Seeger Sessions.
Precious Memories
Recorded: September-December 1981 (demo only)
Never performed live
