Cover Me: Jambalaya (On the Bayou)

Sometimes the best moments at a Springsteen show happen long before the lights go down.

Case in point: Bruce’s second holiday show in Asbury Park, on December 18, 2000.

With house band The Max Weinberg 7 still on the ferry, Bruce turned a late soundcheck into a full-on pre-show for early-arriving fans.

Summoning Nils, Garry, Southside Johnny, Soozie, Patti, and Lisa Lowell all to the stage, the ad hoc “Asbury Opry” led off with a cover of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).”

Willams’ 1952 original was a massive hit, topping the country charts for fourteen weeks. An ode to Cajun food, drink, and revelry, the song quickly became a genre standard covered by every one from Elvis to Garth Brooks.

As for the version by Bruce and company: it’s loose, fun, and clearly improvised, with Bruce calling out solos for Soozie and Southside and arranging on the spot in fine Seeger Sessions fashion–which isn’t surprising, because although that album was still six years in the future, the first recording session for it was actually a couple of years in the past.

The band that gave rise to the Sessions Band–The Gotham Playboys–actually played “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” with Bruce at his birthday party in 1998, so maybe that’s what was in Bruce’s mind that December day in 2000.

Whatever made Bruce play that particular song on that particular day, we should be thankful for it: although it wasn’t the first time Bruce played it and it wouldn’t be the last, it’s the one and only time it was recorded.

Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
First performed: October 11, 1998 (Colts Neck, NJ)
Last performed: January 23, 2010 (Asbury Park, NJ)