While I’ve enjoyed the revival of Late Night OTB, it’s not generating much in the way of reader interest—at least as judged by comments. That, and the realization that posting multiple videos a night will run me out of quality material rather quickly has led me to make this a Friday and Saturday night thing. We’ll see how it goes.
“Fire on the Mountain” was written by George McCorkle, guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band, and it appeared on their 1975 album Searchin’ for a Rainbow. It was their first big hit:
Here’s a live version from 1981:
About a decade ago, a bluegrass-style cover was put out by Iron Horse:
I prefer it to the MTB original.
Interestingly, Fire on the Mountain was the name of a Charlie Daniels Band album that came out in 1974. McCorkle apparently wrote it in hopes Daniels would record it. While I would have sworn I’ve heard Daniels play it in concert, I can find no evidence of that on YouTube. It occurs to me that what Daniels probably played is yet a third song by that title (which likely inspired the album title, since it features no song with that name). Here’s the legendary Hank Williams:
Coincidentally, there’s a song by the same name from the Grateful Dead that was released in 1978:
Here’s a live version:
I don’t much care for either.
John Mayer does a better job with it but I think he’d have had better luck with the MTB version:
