I'm from California. This is a Northern Cali Spring morning. Driving west through the hills of Napa... It's a little chilly, dew on the Golden Hills, sun rising into a blue sky... getting warmer, until it's a perfect 73 Fahrenheit... suddenly the ocean comes into view, a few minutes later you can smell the sea... You start to realize the thousand possibilities at once, but you are not manic, you're totally at peace.
Reminds me of Big Sur. But it is also my theme song, because I returned to California 40 years ago. On my own, just pulling out of my past life, looking for something new, nothing going at all in my life, and I met my wife within a couple weeks. 40 years going strong. And we live in Sonoma now.
Good morning brother. I'm in The Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia and getting that same vibe. Our grapes make some very good wine too. Sometimes they are actually the same grapes that do well in the Napa Valley. It works for the song too; Goin to Shenandoah with an aching in my heart.
I remember coming home from a brutal boarding school in Idaho, driving my pickup across the state line back home into California with this song playing. Every time I hear it, I'm right back to that feeling of freedom. And that guitar is probably worth $5,000...
Hi Steve! Thanks for your moving story! I was in Job Corps in the Cascades of Oregon in '73. A small radio in a distant room from our once a week indoors class with carpentry was playing Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heavens Door". It was distant, faint, but especially ethereal in the kind of acoustic-like space. It had a very moving effect on me where I can relate to your story. Job Corps could be brutal too, but I was 19, much older, and I could leave, quit, whenever I wanted which would've been probably not even possible for you, yet I can relate to your story. Really though you would get $14 a month spending money and more difficult to hit the road and leave. (I did and hitchhiked, gone for a week). The song with the acoustic effect, really putting up with a lot of mistreatment in JC, gave me a feeling of a good kind of spookiness, a kind of liberation, like laying under a stand of sunlit golden aspen in a breeze against a clear blue mountain sky kind of feeling of liberation. Gretchen Menn is amazing. I feel she's right up there with Leo Kotkke. I see it's a Santa Cruz guitar... I like finding videos from guitar makers as it's fun to see how they design guitars and make them. It's a fantastic sounding guitar.
It's always interesting to watch someone playing Jimmy's compositions for open tunings. He was really a master at writing in this style & expanding the horizons of the instrument.
You're so right.. all I kept hearing in the background of my mind was his mandolin. It really brings the song together. John Paul Jones is terribly underrated in Zeppelin fandom in my opinion.
@@beemelonhead1 no he ain't...he's just as appreciated as Jimmy Page or John Bonham or Robert Plant...without ANY of them Led Zeppelin simply wouldn't have been. Proof of this is an attempted remake with Jason Bonham...it was good alright, but it just wasn't the same, and the same would be true if any other was taken out of the lineup...
@@coryCuc Long winded is the spoken word. What you're looking for is 'Run-On-Sentence', which isn't present, as I used proper punctuation. You want 'long winded'? I'll do about 7 paragraphs next time, without any punctuation at all, and then you may have a valid observation...in my experience brevity invites criticism...
You played that so wonderfully. I am 51 years old and the older I get the MORE I understand how great that era was - Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Velvet Underground. You floated it out in the air, a cascade of butterfly wingbeats fluttering in my ears. You played it wonderfully! There is nothing like Led Zeppelin. (And the Doors. :))
Gretchen Menn is an amazing player, wow! I have to say, l have never heard one single finger style performance on YT for guitar demos, tutorials, covers or anything at all, where the player did not flub a note or two, or some of the notes were not played crisply, but this was perfection, on a not so easy to play song. Well done Gretchen🙌👏💐🙏🏻🐶 BTW, nice guitar, Santa Cruz!
Thank you for this! I have taken inspiration from this version of the song because you made it so easy to see and learn. I appreciate that. I'm from California but live in Nashville now. It still takes a teacher to help me learn songs, and I am grateful for you tube videos like this that make it simple to absorb. ❤👍☺
Can we talk about the incredible memory capacity that musicians have? Also, Gretchen truly loves to listen as she makes the guitar sing. And Jimmy Page, I find myself thinking, what the heck kind of a thought process has to occur to assemble all those notes into a masterpiece such as this? Mind blowing to us non-musicians!
C'mon people.........Be a little more generous with those "Thumbs Up". Pretty girl playing a wonderful rendition of a great song. What more can you ask for?
Wow! Absolutely stunning. This is most definitely going on my playlist. When I listen to this, I just want to turn off all the lights...and put this version on repeat and let it take me away to pure bliss.
No matter what you play DAN I REALLY INJOY IT. Those little extra notes you put in.Love it-gives me incentive, to keep on studying and practicing. Thank you and keep on rolling.
You take me there every time Gretchen. Big respect for you from a fellow player. Ear candy and eye candy in one experience. A gift for the senses 👍✌️🤘❤️
This was my theme and dream song for years and finally moved to CA. Beautiful performance Gretchen, I aspire to fingerpick like that on my Breedlove! Loved it!!
Gretchen! Honestly, That is the best sound ever heard out of my computer speakers. Actually got scared lol Thank Your sharing. Love Your Playing and Love the Guitar
Lovely. Nice work. Thanks also for the lesson. We can follow your tuning and fingerings. You have spawned a new cohort of people who know how to play this dreamy classic.
Fantastic playing. I play lefty style and had the chance to play a lefty Santa Cruz, Tony Rice and a Santa Cruz D-12 at Jerry's Lefty Guitars in Sarasota Fl a few years ago. They were the 2 best sounding guitars I have ever laid hands on. I kick myself in the ass for not buying either one of them.
Great job!!! I used to perform this song ( among many other Zep tunes ) decades ago.......I played and sang it at the same time. Being the perfectionist that I ( once ) was.........I can honestly say: she NAILED it. Sweet guitar too.
Not sure if the comments are ever read by Gretchen however, I will say what an amazing Talented Artist and Teacher. Thank you so much for the inspiration and education.
Ok, that woman’s thumb looks has a digital metronome installed. Expensive upgrade…..costs a lot of time, that’s what I know! Beautifull job, amazing recording session!
