Ever since I was a teenager in the early ’70s, I have been convinced that Paperback Writer from The Beatles would make an excellent bluegrass number. It had been a #1 hit for the band in 1966, and its beat and feel seemed to scream out for a bluegrass treatment.
And here come the Lil Smokies late in 2018 to prove the point.
It’s the latest single from these midwestern alt-grassers, a groovin’ and very accurate translation of this rocker into a bluegrass song. The Smokies put the banjo and reso to the task, and deliver just what my imagination always heard as the right stuff.
The Smokies are Scott Parker on bass, Jake Simpson on fiddle, Matt Rieger on guitar, Matt Cornette on banjo, and Andy Dunnigan on dobro.
You can find their single for Paperback Writer wherever you stream or download music online.
