I have to admit that I never knew the title of the song Willin' until very recently. I had grown up hearing the tune played by Little Feat; a short, earthy anthem about a trucker's life on the road, and a guy that sometimes does shady things to survive. Lowell George wrote the song in 1971 while a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, although it is said that Frank Zappa, while liking it, never could find a place in a set list for it. Soon after, apparently, the rabidly anti-drug Zappa fired George from the band for smoking marijuana. With his exit from The Mothers, George formed a new group, the venerable Little Feat, and the song found a place on their first and second albums. Over the years Willin' has been played and recorded by a number of performers, each giving their own signature, and most recently on the final album by Gregg Allman, Southern Blood.

Like the great Band song "The Weight," Willin' is an important, foundational anthem to the rock songbook, even if most folks don't know the name of the song. I did some research and came up with at least a dozen powerful versions, with Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus version pulling in a respectable 4.5 million listens on Spotify. From The Black Crowes, the Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, to Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, and even the Bikini Robot Army, this rock and roll hymn is forever a classic. Listen to my Willin' playlist to hear the range of interpretations, all of them great: tinyurl.com/ycpnoly5

Lock'n Recordings

If you were lucky enough to make it down to LOCK'N at Infinity Downs Farm in Arrington, Virginia this August, you could still experience some of the great sets played at this monster festival. Thanks to the taper-friendly policy, most of the shows were recorded and can be downloaded with a BitTorrent client like Transmission. Go to bt.etree.org for the shows and put "lockn" in the search box. Here are a few of the performances that I have snagged and liked:

Greensky Bluegrass—The band is always a refreshing change from your standard jam outfit, fully acoustic except dobro player Anders Beck's occasional electric forays on the slide. The boys play a powerful set with some of their best tunes, including the ballad In Control, the rocking Burn Them, and the Jimmy Martin tune Hit Parade of Love. http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=595033

String Cheese Incident—The Wipfler brothers at Hill School turned me onto String Cheese Incident more than a decade ago. The band has a huge following and has become a staple at Lockn'. They played a hot set highlighted by the Allman Brothers' tune Jessica where they were joined by Brendan Bayliss and Joel Cummins from Umphrey's McGee. http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=595012

Gov't Mule—Warren Haynes, the leader of Gov't Mule, has played with almost everyone, and those relationships result in great walk-ons during Mule shows. This time around, after some smokin' renditions of Thorazine Shuffle and Revolution Come, Revolution Go, he welcomed Ann Wilson of Heart to the stage, and she powers through Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song and Black Dog and some other blues numbers. A historic set to be sure and well worth the download. http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=594965

Phil Lesh and Friends—At 77, Phil Lesh is a musical energizer bunny with more musician friends than anyone else. He keeps playing great music, and his fans get to return again and again to The Phil Zone. Lesh did two sets at Lockn' this year; both are out there to download. Of particular interest this time around is his set with the Terrapin Family Band and guests Bob Weir and Nicki Bluhm. They do an epic rendition of Terrapin Station. Bluhm's vocals add to the youth-inspired Dead sound and the party—the music never stops. http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=594976