The Fretboard Journal's "You Are My Sunshine" Project: Complete Sessions

Let’s give credit where credit is due: Bryan Sutton. During one of our filming sessions with the bluegrass master, he offered us a brilliant suggestion: What if we had all the great artists who stop by our offices give us their take on the same tune? We quickly settled on "You Are My Sunshine" as a song that nearly everyone knows (or can fake) and got to work. Here, exclusively for Fretboard Journal Insiders, is our vault of all the great performances we've captured so far, interpreted wildly differently in a Tone Poems-esque collection.

Here, Courtney Hartman plays a mellow version of "Sunshine" for us, with some beautiful instrumental breaks on a borrowed 1937 Martin shadetop D-18.

One of my favorite versions was the one Noam Pikelny (Punch Bros) did on his National Tricone plectrum guitar. It's so nice to hear one of these rare (but seldom played) guitars in action. 

 

 

Next up is singer-songwriter/producer Joe Henry. He delivers an ethereal rendition on his ‘30s Gibson L-00, a fitting guitar, as it was built just a few years  prior to when the song was originally written.

Bob Minner plays a lush instrumental version on a Collings C-100 that has a bell-like ring and a gut-punch low end.

We sprung the "Sunshine" idea on Del McCoury and David Grisman behind-the-scenes at Wintergrass 2018. We're glad we did as we got to capture this sweet duet played on Grisman’s Lloyd-era Gibson F-5 “Crusher” and Del's Martin. 

Sutton performed the tune a second time for us with Hot Rize.

FJ 39 cover artist Joan Shelley sings a sweet, warm version with Nathan Salzburg fingerpicking a gentle accompaniment.

Another former cover artist - Danny Barnes (issue 35) - stopped by and gave us one of the wilder versions we've heard, alongside guitarist Grant Gordy and mandolinist Joe K. Walsh. 

Last but not least, you didn't think we'd forget about our friend Bill Frisell, did you? On this tune, he's playing his heavily modified Fender Telecaster through a Gibson GA-50T amp with a Strymon Flint for reverb and tremolo and a Line 6 DL4 for looping.