The charm of this clip snuck on me. What seems at first to be another impressive Shovels and Rope outdoor live session becomes something more around the 2:45 mark, in which J. Roddy Walston takes lead vocals for the bridge of his own tune. “I thought I understood the song that I had written,” he says, “but watching them twist and turn and bend it to their will made me question if I even understood English.” He backs them up on keyboard for two choruses and then — having soaked in the tune’s backyard, South Carolina revision — carries the take to its soulful peak. Watch the trio perform outside Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent’s Charleston home above.
