Dobson first performed "Morning Dew" at the inaugural
Mariposa Folk Festival in
Orillia, Ontario in August 1961. She later played it at an acoustic session with
Bob Dylan and
Phil Ochs at
Gerde's Folk City in New York. The song, along with Ochs's and Dylan's songs from the session, was subsequently printed in the folk music publication
Broadside. Dobson lacked a
music publisher at the time it appeared in
Broadside, which led to problems with the rights later on. The earliest cover version of "Morning Dew" was by
The Briarwood Singers on their album
Well, Well, Well released in January 1964. The record fails to give credit to Dobson, and credits the song to "O. Brown". The next version is on the self-titled album by
the Goldebriars, using the title "Come Walk Me Out" and also without songwriter credit to Dobson. It was followed about a month later by singer and guitarist
Fred Neil with
Vince Martin, for their album
Tear Down The Walls. It credits Dobson for the song.
Tim Rose followed with a version for his 1967 self-titled debut album, which claimed partial writing credit by Rose. Rose took advantage of a loophole in US
copyright law to trick Dobson out of full composition rights for the song (Rose had previously made dubious claims of authorship to "
Hey Joe"). (A lengthy, iconic live version was later included on their double album,
Europe '72.) Morning Dew became a concert-going fan favorite, and the Grateful Dead played it live 274 times over nearly three decades, concluding with their performance on June 21, 1995, part of their East Coast summer tour, and less than two months before Jerry Garcia's death on August 9, 1995. Around the time of the Dead's version,
Duane & Greg Allman recorded a demo version of "Morning Dew" that was released as a single following Duane Allman's death in 1971. American psychedelic rock band
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band released their cover of "Morning Dew" under the title "Will You Walk With Me" in February 1967 on their album
Part One.
The Pozo-Seco Singers also released a single of the song in 1967, as did
Episode Six in the U.K. British pop singer
Lulu recorded a version of "Morning Dew" for her album
Love Loves to Love Lulu, produced by
John Paul Jones, in 1967, and this was released as a single in the US, Canada (#55), and Australia in 1968. With
Rod Stewart on vocals, the
Jeff Beck Group recorded a version on their 1968 album
Truth that carried over some aspects of the Fred Neil version, including the bass part. Scottish rockers
Nazareth covered the song on their 1971 debut in a version with an extended arrangement similar to the Jeff Beck Group's, and released a single version the following year.
Long John Baldry did "Morning Dew" on his self-titled 1980 release and released it as a single the same year. The German band
Einstürzende Neubauten included a version of "Morning Dew" on their album
Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala of 1987.
Devo covered the song on
Smooth Noodle Maps released in 1990. American band
Blackfoot also covered it to open their 1984 album
Vertical Smiles. Irish band
Clannad included a rendition on their
self-titled debut album. Cleveland, Ohio, rock band Damnation of Adam Blessing covered "Morning Dew" on their 1969 self-titled debut. "Morning Dew" was also performed by
Duane and Greg Allman on
their album released by Bold Records.
Robert Plant covered the song on his 2002 album
Dreamland, and performed it live with Dobson herself in 2013. The
Grateful Dead performed the song during their farewell run of shows in 2015. The following year,
The National recorded a version for Grateful Dead tribute compilation album.
Skating Polly also did a rendition of the song on their 2016 album,
The Big Fit. As of 2024, "Morning Dew" has been performed live by
Dead & Company 45 times. ==References==