Song · Gillian Welch
“Revelator” by Gillian Welch
From the album Time (The Revelator) (2001)
“Revelator” by Gillian Welch appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2009 and 2025. It was first released in 2001 on the album Time (The Revelator). Its best result is #388 on the WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024).
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Gillian Welch and David Rawlings wrote "Revelator" together for Time (The Revelator), her third album, released in 2001, and the take that made the record was never meant to be a keeper. By Welch's account it was a mic test: Rawlings asked her to play the song, it sounded fine, and they used it. He remembered that they hadn't played it in months, which gave the performance a first-take glow nobody could have faked.
Rawlings produced, Matt Andrews engineered, and like nearly everything on the album it was cut at RCA Studio B, in a single pass. The result is unhurried and unvarnished, two people leaning into a song that had gone fresh again on the shelf, and the album as a whole brought the pair a heap of acclaim.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 541 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2024 | 388 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 420 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
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