"Tired Man"

“Tired Man” - written by Bob Moore © Bob Moore

When I was just starting out as a musician, my brother and I used to make our way to Exeter Music where the large-mustachioed proprietor (you could just tell when there was a smile under there) would patiently listen to our ramblings, let us try out gear, and recommend music. He also led open mic nights in the area, which became places for my brother and I to stretch our wings. He was–and is–one of the kindest souls I have ever met. Often​​times, Bob would have an acoustic guitar in his hands, playing beautiful fingerstyle music. He started hosting a series of summer concerts in the park, MCing and sometimes playing sets himself, his mellow voice and chiming guitar work echoing across the Squamscott River. When he released his album On A Mission, I wore my copy out. I was especially entranced by the song, “Tired Man.”

When deciding how to approach this cover, I knew I wanted a full band approach. Bob’s fingerstyle mastery made me think of Mark Knopfler with Dire Straights, who developed a signature fingerstyle approach to rock guitar. I decided to evoke the kind of atmosphere found on Dire Straights songs like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Brothers in Arms.” In the spirit of this, I mimicked Knopfler: finger plucked Les Paul-style guitar (mine is a Jay Turser double cutaway), volume manipulation (Mark mostly used his guitar’s knob; my dexterity demanded a volume pedal), Marshall amp (channel II on my Sovtek MIG-50 through a cabinet I built with speakers from a 1980s marshall). The On A Mission version of “Tired Man” also featured a violin solo that I tried to recreate here note-for-note (by memory from 30-something years ago, as my tape is long gone) in my guitar solo.