Boots No. 1 – The Official Revival Bootleg – Out Now!

Gillian Welch’s groundbreaking album Revival was released twenty years ago. To commemorate the anniversary, Welch’s own Acony Records released Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg on November 25th. Personally curated and produced by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, they worked alongside archivist Glen Chausse to mine selections from their extensive vault of analog tape recordings. The two-disc set features 8 previously unreleased songs, and include 21 outtakes, alternate versions, and demos from the making of the album such as the earliest home demo of “Orphan Girl,” which was recorded on a four track, and the rarity “Georgia Road,” a song that was only performed live once. The demo “Dry Town” was written the week after Welch and Rawlings opened for Johnny Cash and premiered last month on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel and is highlighted on NPR Music. The album is available on iTunes, Amazon, Gillianwelch.com and more.

Order Boots No. 1:




TRACK LIST:

Disc One
1. Orphan Girl (Alternate Version)
2. Annabelle (Alternate Version)
3. Pass You By (Alternate Version)
4. Go On Downtown (Revival Outtake)
5. Red Clay Halo (Revival Outtake)
6. By The Mark (Alternate Mix)
7. Paper Wings (Demo)
8. Georgia Road (Revival Outtake)
9. Tear My Stillhouse Down (Home Demo)
10. Only One and Only (Alternate Version)

Disc Two
1. Orphan Girl (Home Demo)
2. I Don’t Want to Go Downtown (Revival Outtake)
3. 455 Rocket (Revival Outtake)
4. Barroom Girls (Live Radio)
5. Wichita (Revival Outtake)
6. One More Dollar (Alternate Version)
7. Dry Town (Demo)
8. Paper Wings (Alternate Mix)
9. Riverboat Song (Revival Outtake)
10. Old Time Religion (Revival Outtake)
11. Acony Bell (Demo)

photo by John Patrick Salisbury

Of the album, Gillian says, “I’m happy that the songs hold up. That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of. There is that interesting moment in any writer’s first batch of songs or any writer’s first novel or anything, a filmmaker’s first movie that always seems to have something that is different from what comes after. Something happens in that first push. Maybe because you’re usually up against more resistance. But there is a purity or a diamond hardness to the first batch that doesn’t seem to happen again. And so Revival has that when I look at it. Maybe it’s lack of ego. You know, there really was no me. You know, the artist Gillian Welch didn’t really exist. And then after that, I did.”

10 Comments

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  1. Very excited about this! Any chance you all might release your cover of “Snowing on Raton?” or “Girls just wanna have fun?”

  2. I’m thrilled for this set and can’t wait to hear it! But I am puzzled that Gillian Welch releases are still not coming on vinyl.. I’m the last person I know who bought CDs and I stopped entirely about three or four years ago. Are there any plans in the works to develop this as a vinyl release as well?

  3. I am anxiously waiting the release of this album to purchase the digital download. I am hoping this is the first of five “bonus” albums similarly culled from your other studio recordings.

    Please come back to NYC to perform again. I go to 10-15 concerts a year, and the last Dave Rawlings Machine show at the Beacon Theater was the best show I’ve attended in a long time.

  4. I’m more than excited about the bootleg release. However, I have not yet gotten my hands on a good quality recording of two of my favorite songs from the era – Making Time and Birds of a Feather. Please, please, please release these songs…

  5. This inspired me to look at getting a good turntable and everything because I assumed it would be out on vinyl. This screams for vinyl! It’s perfect. This seriously had me looking to plunge into vinyl — just for this album! Can’t wait to see you here in NYC! Got my tickets and everything!

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