A couple years back we featured the audio of the traditional song Trials Troubles Tribulations off of a MusicNow Festival retrospective album as performed by Sounds Of The South.  The song (written by Estil C. Ball0) was originally captured in the seminal Alan Lomax field recordings.  Sounds Of The South is the super-group consisting of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Frazey Ford (Be Good Tanyas), Matthew E. White, Phil & Brad Cook & Joe Westerlund (Megafaun).  Unbeknownst to us, there is a fine capture (below) of Sounds Of The South performing the song at the Sydney Opera House in 2013.  We love everything about it, but the horns in particular and especially from 2:41 to 3:15 in the video.  Reminds of the arrangements by the great Allan Toussaint on The Band’s Rock of Ages live album.  Higher praise we have not.

Afterwards, watch the MusicNow Festival version by Sounds Of The South, but featuring Sharon Van Etten in lieu of Frazey Ford.  We hope you have time to compare the two versions, with the latter featuring more of the underrated guitar playing of Matthew E. White (check out 3:05-4:15–superb!).  Watch as Van Etten gives Vernon a couple of knowing looks during the solo.  Outstanding!