Seven Days: June 4 - 10 2023

This Week in Bob Dylan

Jun 11, 2023

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This is our roundup of everything important that happened in the world of Bob Dylan over the last seven days. Here’s what you need to know.

Part of the etching on the unused Side ‘D’ of the Shadow Kingdom Vinyl

Dylan on Tour

IN PROGRESS: European Tour: June 2 - 30 (25 Shows)
This Week: Lisben Portugal, Madrid Spain, Seville Spain (Setlists)
Next Week: Madrid, Granada, Alicante, Huesea - All Spain

Best Links This Week

The most useful or broadly interesting news, blog posts, and reviews of the week. For a more exhaustive list of links, see the ‘Complete Links’ section below.

Dylan, Cain's, Switchyard, Tulsa (Lincoln Journal Star)
- "I spent four evenings last week at Cain’s Ballroom...stood next to the leather jacket Bob Dylan wore when he went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival...got to touch the Neve 808 console that Daniel Lanois used to record Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind”...All that came around Switchyard, a new festival from the University of Tulsa that folds into its annual The World of Bob Dylan conference, which features panels and presentations about Dylan’s life, work, legacy, literary examination."
Dylan: Sullen, Resilient and Unique in Madrid (The Limited Times)
- “Dylan does not want what happens in his recitals to be told in a schizoid attitude that provides more eccentricity to the character. But even if he does not want to, we must narrate this twilight Dylan, nothing complacent, intimate, bluesy, aged (82 years), in some phase even playful.”
Cat Power Sings Dylan (The Music)
- "Marshall’s sultry Southern voice added a soul Dylan could never quite achieve. The drop on “How does it feel?” has this ineffable emancipatory atmosphere made all the more immersive without the nasal drone of the original."
Shadow Kingdom Review (Spectrum Culture)
- "Each song on the album deserves a careful breakdown, whether the new twists in the spry “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” or the heavy re-writes for “To Be Alone with You.” Less famous cuts like “The Wicked Messenger” or “Watching the River Flow” suggest revisits to the originals may be in order. The album’s final vocal comes on “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” the sadness lingering."
Noir Tunes in 21st Century Dylan (Letter In The Ether - Greil Marcus)
- "Dylan’s “High Water” could be happening in 1927, or in 2012, with just downtown New York blacked out from Hurricane Sandy, or the whole country under a dome of terror eleven years before, or anytime in the future."
Dylan in Cincinnati Oct 1978 (Shadow Chasing)
- "Dylan takes the stage during the final bars of “My Back Pages”—there’s no mistaking his entrance from the rapturous cheers—and launches into “I’m Ready.” Again, he seems intent upon defying expectations from the start. Here is the most legendary songwriter in popular music, yet he begins with a song written by Willie Dixon and popularized by Muddy Waters."

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We're pleased to have worked with Michael Gray to help put the venerable Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan back into print after over a decade. Originally published in 1972 (UK) and 1973 (US) this book has been updated twice and grew to over 900 pages. Many huge Dylan fans will tell you this was the pivotal book for them, as it illuminates Dylan and his writing by looking at how he uses language, and how his work fits within the traditions of folk, rock, blues and more.

There has never been a Dylan book as well and widely reviewed. Rolling Stone called it: "Monumental, endlessly illuminating." Christopher Ricks said it was: "Immense and immensely illuminating… It is wonderfully comic and serious and sharp. I am enjoying it hugely and learning from every page.” And recently Keith Miles said: “Song & Dance Man is probably one of the most important books written about Dylan. People forget that the road to the Nobel Prize was very long, took many years, and began with that book; it began with Michael Gray.”

Last week Greil Marcus shared some thoughts on the book:

Every word from the 3rd Edition is now coming out as a three book series. Vol. 1 is now shipping in paperback and on Kindle. You can order it at Amazon by clicking the link below. Vol. 2 and 3 will be released later this year.

The latest Dylan.FM Podcast features a talk with Michael Gray about Chapter One. And a series of videos telling the story of the book has begun: Pt.1 Why Write The Book, Pt. 2 Early Reactions, Pt. 3 Getting Permission from Dylan, Pt. 4 Dylan Wants to Meet You - and there will be more (Follow us on YouTube for notifications.)