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Darrell Scott’s Electrifying Trio Fords Johnny Cash’s “Big River” in Latest “It Must be Sunday” Video

Neither Johnny Cash nor, perhaps, anyone who’s covered the song, imagined “Big River” in quite the way Darrell Scott’s Electrifying Trio imagined it.

It was Aug. 18, 2023, and Scott, double bassist Bryn Davies and drummer Jeff Sipp were stoking a fire in North Carolina. Scott was particularly busy, playing lead and rhythm on his Gibson Les Paul-model axe and singing unaccompanied lead vocals.

Much slower than Cash’s “River” and the remakes that’ve come in its wake, DSET’s rendition was draped in a loping blues-rock arrangement that, while radical, worked so well, it seems its wisdom should’ve been obvious.

Which it was not, of course. Which is why it was so freaking brilliant.

Sixty-four episodes and more than a year in and Scott’s “It Must be Sunday” video series has reached its high-water mark with “Big River.”

Darrell Scott Sings of Underground in Kentucky While Underground in Tennessee

- “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” is latest “It Must be Sunday” video

Though it is best known as a country song, “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” was a blues number when the man who wrote it played it at Tennessee’s Caverns.

Recorded Sept. 16, 2023, the version out as the latest “It Must be Sunday” video finds organist Reese Wynans augmenting Darrell Scott’s Electrifying Trio with the namesake leader on guitar and vocals, Jeff Sipe on drums and Bryn Davies on bass and backgrounds.

Haunted and haunting, the slow-grind arrangement bores down into the souls of Scott’s Kentucky brethren as he sings of living off the underground while working underground.

And the sun comes up about 10 in the morning/and the sun goes down about 3 in the day/and you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking/and you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave, Scott and Davies sing.

The Trio can pull this off on its own; however, Wynans’ contributions are what transforms this from a rock ‘n’ roll number to a truly blues track.

But remember, “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” is a country song.

The Sun Powers Darrell Scott’s Electrifying Trio on Latest “It Must be Sunday” Video

Anyone who doubts the power of the sun need only to watch the latest “It Must be Sunday” video from Darrell Scott to have their faith restored.

Recorded Aug. 19, 2023, at South Carolina’s Get off the Grid Festival, it captures Scott’s namesake Electrifying Trio turning in an aggressive, 13-minute rendition of “River Take Me.”

Scott is often - and often correctly - described as a folk singer or a country songwriter. In the context of the DSET, he’s a bluesman with a taste for improvisational rock ‘n’ roll.

The story of an unemployed husband and father on the brink of personal, financial and natural disaster, “River” benefits from Scott’s abrasive electric guitar. And with the support of drummer Jeff Sipe and double bassist Bryn Davies, he’s free to play as he pleases, knowing the rhythm section has him covered as he reinforces the despairing lyrics with angry instrumental passages and gives Sipe a solo turn to boot.

“You’ve just heard the Electrifying Trio gone solar,” Scott says as the final vamp comes to an end.

Scott doesn’t do this often enough. Thankfully, the sun also provided the power necessary to record this performance for posterity.

And for us.