As a part of my exploration (and subsequent posting of my finds) a few weeks ago, someone who I have a lot of respect for, a real aficionado and professional in the business commented that someone who I had just written about was just doing a blatant ripoff of another then "more prominent" player. If you listen to the two recordings side by side they are very similar. I mean really similar. First I want to explain that I listen to a lot of music and am looking for something that moves me. I really appreciated her comment but it got me thinking on a different level. Are musicians ripping each other off, are they posing a tribute...are they even aware of the source?
Although this is a specific example where both artists were black and both were born around 1910 and about a couple of hundred miles apart. Neither of them likely owned a radio. Let's face it. A lot has changed since then. But the point is, her comment really got me thinking about the music that I listen to and in this case, I explored it. One guy, the one who is commonly associated with the tune, is a professional musician. The other has very little and contradicting history... most likely a street musician busking for money. He sounded great! This guy deserved his due. But then I started to think. Then I started to put things into perspective. Possibly this "street" guy wrote the song and the more successful performer heard him and ripped him off. Definitely possible. Possibly both recordings are by the same guy...certainly not unheard of that a player would go from place to place and record the same song under different names... possible. Who knows...really!
Doing what I do I see a lot of artists playing material that is not written by them. So what is a cover and what is a tribute... or a ripoff? If I were to ask 100 blues lovers who's song is Got My Mojo Working they would say.... written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole in 1956...right? Hell no! Muddy Waters! Well, the 5 of you who knew that congratulations. Mud didn't do it until 1957. Did he rip it off. Likely he got it lawfully but that isn't the point. It's Muddy's song. Who are Ann Cole and Preston Foster anyway. When Elvis did Hound Dog did he rip off Big Mama... probably...did anyone care? No. They never heard of her. 
Did Led Zep rip off Otis Rush when they did I Can't Quit You? Definitely... and a lot of other artists too. Now here's one...did George Harrison rip off the Chiffon's (She's So Fine) with My Sweet Lord? Probably not intentionally. Did you know that Jeff Beck had Superstition on his BBA album before Stevie Wonder had a hit with it? Well, Stevie Wonder wrote it and gave it to Jeff... then it ended up on his own album months later. But that happened in current times...we have records...and both guys are still living. It's all subject to what you do with it and what your intention is. Jeff did the song as a power blues rock song... Stevie Wonder as a funky hit single. Both great! You can't imagine how many copies of the same songs I hear regurgitated over and over by band after band. Many of these songs are note for note... is that a tribute or a ripoff?A number of months ago I posted an artist named Albert Castiglia playing Loan Me A Dime. Everyone knows this was by the great Fenton Robinson in 1967 but most associate it with Boz Scaggs and Duane Allman from 1969. Boz' vocals are very similar to Robinson's but Duane's guitar work is stylistically different in every way. I think there was some issue with attribution at the time. Back to Castiglia, tribute or ripoff? It is an artist 20 years later playing a great song.... so I say none of the above. Were royalties paid...likely. Did he copy it note for note? No! Did he make it his own? Yes!
When I hear a song that really falls in the fray... lets say a signature Roy Buchanan song or Jeff Beck song where the guitar solo is essentially the melody it really makes it difficult. If an artist can reinterpret the song that's cool... but if they are going to play it note for note...it better be really good! Eric Clapton never got any flack (that I know of) for playing I Shot The Sheriff but then he was really introducing the larger audience to a little known music form called Reggae (and Bob Marley likely got paid royalties). Ripoff... I say no. I'd rather hear that than a lame attempt to play Robert Johnson or some other primitive artist and trying to mimic unsuccessfully. Buddy Guy does tributes to a number of artists in every show. Buddy is a great entertainer and everything that he does becomes his own. And that's what led Zep did too... (but they forgot the credits).
So when is it a cover...when you're doing it on a local level and playing it note for note to make a few bucks entertaining your friends. When is it a ripoff... when you play it and say you wrote it and try to hide the tells. We have loved some rip off artists...thankfully most of the original artists are being compensated when possible for these actions. So that just leaves the tribute. That is a bit more gray.
I guess a tribute is when a known artist plays another artists music and declares proper authorship... then plays it note for note. If he makes it his own...it's really more than a tribute... it's a total reinterpretation. In any case, not everyone is a great song writer and I won't mention artist to make an example. Many of our rock legends really weren't great song writers but were great interpreters. Rock Music came about as a result of these interpretations and the body of modern blues music that I hear on a professional level is also interpretation. It is extremely cool when I hear something that is totally new! Whatever the situation... it is art and art is all about interpretation. It's taking a basic concept and making something new with it. My quest to find the best music on the planet continues to show that there are still a lot of artists out there with new ideas. That's what keeps me searching...
Here's a great example for comparison... a traditional rendition of Wayfairing Stranger... ("The Wayfaring Stranger" aka "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" or "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"), Roud 3339, is a well-known American spiritual/folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. It became one of Burl Ives's signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger. Ives used it as the title of his early 1940s CBS radio show and his 1948 autobiography. He became known as "The Wayfaring Stranger.")
To me, it is one of Roy Buchanan's signature songs.... different generations!
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and Roy Buchanan's interpretation...Wayfairing Pilgrim.
...and then again Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs etc) playing the traditional again.
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