All this week Jimmy Fallon has been celebrating the music of Bob Marley and the selections have been down right amazing. First off, let’s be honest. The vast majority of Bob Marley covers usually land somewhere between plastic imitations and bad karaoke. There was only one Bob Marley and every single one of his songs are eternally and uniquely his. So when an artist wants to pay tribute and carry on his legacy, it's easy to slip and come across like a stereotypical caricature. For it to be successful, they have to do his song in their way. A great example of this is Jakob Dylan’s cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” from last night’s show. Armed with his faithful white Tele and backed by The Roots, Jakob channeled the groove of the original and delivered the vocals in his unassuming rasp and wail. Granted, I’m a huge Jakob Dylan fan and really dig everything he’s put his stamp on. But even if you don’t like his music, you can’t deny the beauty of this cover. It was sincere to the original while still maintaining a fresh take on it. As always, hats off to The Roots as well for providing such an incredible foundation for the song to build on. I haven’t seen Questlove and the boys even come close to tripping up on a song, so they are always amazing to hear.
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