The New Basement Tapes — a supergroup composed of Elvis Costello, Jim James, Marcus Mumford and others — dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to play a few songs from Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes.
Inspired by a recently discovered box of unreleased Bob Dylan lyrics from 1967, the album features a collection of tracks brought to life by the aforementioned musicians.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “Each artist has come up with his or her own music for many of the lyrics, resulting in multiple versions of the same songs and allowing a perspective on the ways different artists respond to Dylan’s lyrics.”
The Times explains that the album’s recording sessions, lead by producer T. Bone Burnett, yielded almost 50 tracks within the first week before being whittled down to the final 20 on the album.
The results, as you can watch below, aren’t too shabby. The group took to Kimmel’s indoor (and much better sounding) stage to perform “Nothing To It” and an online bonus rendition of “Duncan & Jimmy.” Carried by an upbeat swing, the former features Jim James and his heavenly vocals at the forefront before a cheery group chorus that’s mildly unremarkable, but hardly offensive.
The real meat of this appearance is “Duncan & Jimmy,” a dirty, banjo-ed out barnstormer lead by Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens. Ho-my-lord this lady’s got some pipes. Watch as she leads this beautiful explosion of folk ferocity and wonder what kind of numbnuts in charge decided not to air this one.
Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes is available now.
“Duncan & Jimmy”
“Nothing To It”