This is Seven Days: the top Bob Dylan news, links and video of the week. The Bonus Edition for Paid Subscribers has 33 Extra Links this week.
Bob Dylan on Tour
Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson & Friends
26 Shows (June 21 - Sept 17)
News This Week
Our favorite news & reviews from this week.
How Many Roads: Bob Dylan and his Changing Times (Dylan Center) [5]
"The Bob Dylan Center will premiere a new exhibition, “How Many Roads: Bob Dylan and his Changing Times, 1961–1964,” highlighting the artist’s growing political awareness, including the civil rights and anti-war movements of the early 1960s, on May 24, 2024."
Time Out of Mind on the Horizon (Flagging Down) [5]
"Knowing that Time Out of Mind was already in the can, I listened to this tape with the question: Can you hear it? Can you tell he’s been newly inspired after a long dry spell?"
Helping Bob Dylan Audition Guitarists (Flagging Down) [8]
"This was not Romersa’s only connection to Dylan around this time. An accomplished drummer as well as engineer, he and Epstein served as Dylan’s pick-up rhythm section on a day when Dylan was auditioning new guitar players at his home in Malibu."
Lyrics and Music: Jokerman (Untold Dylan) [8]
"The chorus is then the conventional eight bars, and overall none of this sounds odd or strangely extended, because of two other factors that distract us musically. One is the constant use of the bass primarily on one note through the verse, and the pauses between the lines (bars 5 and 6, and then again after bars 9 and 10)."
Gender Performance Pt.2 (Shadow Chasing) [8]
"More recently, Dylan drops in a couple Nelson allusions on Rough and Rowdy Ways. He namechecks Nelson’s “Hello Mary Lou” in “False Prophet,” and the line “Take me out traveling, you’re a traveling man” in “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” nods toward Nelson’s hit “Travelin’ Man.” Dylan also devotes a chapter to Nelson in The Philosophy of Modern Song."
Street-Legal: Dylan Plays the Tarot Card (Critical Conditions) [5]
"The sound of the album is just too crowded, a dozen musicians, background singers who shout at the end of each line, the lyrics cryptic even for Bob Dylan. Each song has many verses, but few are leavened by bridges or choruses. They just amble on, a litany of complaints and observations without relief."
The NET Extended: I Don’t Believe You (Untold Dylan) [5]
"In the case of “I don’t believe you” my thought is that from the start Bob was trying to find ways to do something different with the song from the way it appeared on the album, but perhaps not always as successfully as we might wish."
Dylan Cover a Day: Where Are You Tonight? (Untold Dylan) [5]
"But it is also possible that the problem is the music. Basically there are six couplets which musically are identical, rotating across two chords. Then you get the chorus which is a relief. But then there are six couplets, and a chorus again. Then there are not six but eight couplets, and then the final chorus."
When I Paint My Masterpiece Pt.4 (Jochen Markhorst) [5]
"Masterpiece does not return until the early summer of 1991. Reluctantly, it almost seems. The performances are less scintillating (especially compared to the sparkling Rolling Thunder renditions), and Dylan seems unable to make up his mind about the girl’s identity: the date with-line is rehashed and frayed, and is first again a girl from Greece, without pretty."
There are Unique Challenges to Making a Bob Dylan Biopic (The Signal) [5]
"This brings me to my biggest concern surrounding a project like this: the entire point and interest of Dylan as a public figure is his elusiveness. Throughout his long career, Dylan has been shrouded in a veil of mystery and intrigue, utilizing the intrinsic human desire for knowledge to his advantage."
How Bob Dylan honored Woody Guthrie, who had Huntington’s (Disease News) [3]
"As a young man, Dylan read Guthrie’s 1943 autobiography, “Bound for Glory.” The older singer behind “This Land Is Your Land” was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, and grew up to become Dylan’s idol and inspiration."
Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Has Blood On The Tracks (Forbes) [3]
"Like Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan began his professional career extremely young: 20 in his case, 16 in hers. They both began working in genres with strong boundaries and conventions, exhibiting early facility with songwriting combined with a singular focus and ambition."
Unique Bob Dylan Poster on ‘Antiques Roadshow’ (Chicago Tribune) [3]
"So Rice and his wife made the 400-mile drive from Naperville to Akron, his Bob Dylan poster and album safely tucked away in a blanket."
Once or Twice: Only a Hobo (Untold Dylan) [3]
"So now we come onto what I think is the one and only live version, recorded 12 April 1963, according to the official site. Two different online sources as noted above, in case one of them vanishes or is not available in your area."
Goodbye Jimmy Reed: Rough and Rowdy Ways Pt. 16 (Untold Dylan) [3]
"There’s quite a fiddly introduction before we hit the 12 bar blues format complete with 12 bar accompaniment, but that unexpected ending and the last line with the extra guitar accompaniment which we find in the recording is still there."
Duke Robillard is American Blues Guitar Royalty (Guitar World) [1]"
New Podcasts This Week
The latest streaming Dylan shows. Most links to Apple Podcasts
Watching The Covers Flow
Never Ending Stories
Interviewing The Legends
The Dylan Hours
Upcoming Dylan-Related Events
Selection from our constantly updated Bob Dylan Events Calendar
May 15 (Boca Raton FL) Birthday Bash NEW
May 15 (Darien CT) Bob Dylan Tribute
May 17 (New York, NY) Birthday Bash
May 19 (Stony Brook NY) Birthday Bash NEW
May 21-26 (Duluth MN) Dylan Fest
May 23 (St Kilda AU) B-Day Tribute
May 23 (Donnerstag GY) B-Day Tribute
May 24 (Marlboro, NY) Birthday Bash
May 24 (Cumberland MD) The Bob Band
May 24 (Bendigo AU) B-Day Tribute
May 24 (Cumberland MD) B-Day Tribute
May 24 (Tauanga, NZ) Songs of Bob Dylan
May 25 (Rockville MD) B-Day Tribute
May 25 (Upway AU) B-Day Tribute
May 25 (Tauanga, NZ) Songs of Bob Dylan
May 25 (Torrance DA) DylanFest 34 NEW
May 26 (Warrnambool AU) B-Day Tribute
May 27 (Greenbelt MD) Birthday Bash
May 30 (Toronto CAN) B-Day Tribute
May 31 (Dublin IR) Bob Dylan Roadshow
June 21-23 (SW France) Bob Dylan Discussion Weekend
July 4 (Lyme Regis UK) The Songs of Bob Dylan
July 18 (Online) Dave, Bob and Me NEW
July 19-20 (Surrey UK) Visions of Dylan
Multi-Date Events
Through Aug 18 (Various Cities) Girl From The North Country
Chrome Horse - Tribute Shows - Regular Dates in US
Simply Dylan - Tribute Shows - Regular Dates in UK
Video Of The Week
Gene Simmons Coaches Jack Blocker on Don’t Think Twice
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