💨 Forget it, Jake. It's "China Doll"

Good morning, my friends. I want to apologize for the relatively lazy streak of Smokestacks I'm churning out lately. They're quick and fun, but I'd like to be better than writing them the night before. We're requesting some interviews and cooking up some more proper research and essays.

Last week I shouted out Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, after I saw the legendary duo for the first time at Carnegie Hall. (Fun aside from my personal life: I met the social media manager for @carnegiehall at a bar the other day. Their social media presence rocks, and I recommend you allow this historic venue to enter your social media feed.)

This week I want to stay on that Welch & Rawlings thread and share their cover of "China Doll" from their show the day before I attended.

Babe Ruth hit home runs. Harry Houdini did tricks. And Carnegie Hall was made to project acoustic instruments. I'm not sure there's a fancy word for "when music perfectly fits the space in which it's being performed," but if there was, I'd use it to describe how the ethereal "China Doll" fills up that room. I'd also use it in a different way about Billy Strings' "China Doll" on February 5, 2022, at Grateful Dead Enterprises' first East Coast headquarters, The Capitol Theater in beautiful Port Chester, New York. My first show!