June 24 - 30, 2024

The Week in Bob Dylan

This is Seven Days, a weekly summary of the best Bob Dylan news and links and everything new. You're seeing the free public edition.

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Tour Details

The Latest on Bob's Live Concerts

  • Dylan On Tour
  • Past Week: Virginia Beach VA, Syracuse NY, Wantagh NY
  • Next Week: Holmdel NY, Mansfield MA, Camden NJ, Bethel NY
  • Press:
    • Willie Nelson Gets the Health Update Outlaw Country Fans Have Been Praying For (American Songwriter) [8]
      • "Willie Nelson has been cleared by his doctors to go back on the road again. He will resume performing on the Outlaw Tour next week."
    • Meanwhile I Was Thinkin’ (Fred Bals) [5]
      • "If Dylan had played “My Babe” on Theme Time Radio Hour, it’s likely it would have been slotted into one of the two “Train” episodes. Dixon got the inspiration for “My Babe” after accompanying the singing Reverend Ballinger on a recording of “This Train.”
    • Dylan’s “Outlaw Tour” Covers Part 2 (Fred Bals) [5]
      • "While not the first truck-driving song, Dudley’s “Six Days on the Road” is credited with kicking off the popular country music trucker subgenre that had its heyday in the ‘60s and ’70s. Released in May 1963, “Six Days on the Road” was Dudley’s first major hit, reaching #2."
    • Three Outlaw Tour Shows Completed So Far (Untold Dylan) [5]
      • "Dylan has been known as a person never to look back. And while that may be true, even in this stage, on this first night in Alpharetta, he sure looked back more than necessary, in my opinion."
    • Last Night in Raleigh (Flagging Down) [8]
      • "One of my main observations at those March shows was how stage left guitarist Bob Britt hovered close to Dylan’s piano, watching his hands intently the entire night. This time, it was stage right guitarist Doug Lancio who was up on the piano, never taking his eyes off the keys."
    • Last Night in Syracuse (Flagging Down) [8]
      • "This version of “Under the Red Sky” completely resuscitates the song from the schmaltzy production of the studio recording. This performance of “Under the Red Sky” makes me long for a fresh remaster similar to the organic-sounding version of Time Out of Mind that we heard on Fragments."
    • Last Night at Jones Beach (Flagging Down) [8]
      • "After two nights of setlist hijinx, it’s slightly sad to settle in for the long haul, only mitigated by the fact that, after playing them a few dozen times, it means that these songs will sound even more amazing by the end of this tour (and because someone will find the right circumstances to pull an awesome tape or two)."

Top News & Links

Our favorite Dylan-related stories and links

Special Announcement

T Bone Burnett did an event at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa last week, and there was a special event held during his visit. As reported below by Bob Russell, the 5 other songs Dylan re-recorded for the Ionic Recordings were played publicly for the first time for a small invited group. The first of these was Blowin' In The Wind, released as an Edition of One two years ago - and auctioned for $1.7M.

 

At the time Burnett reported that five other songs were recorded in these new sessions, but at the time the list was unknown. These are expected to also be sold as Editions of One, but perhaps not at auction. Revisit or series on Ionic Recordings Here: Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt.3.

New Articles

Stories from the press

New Blog Posts

New from fans and other writers

  • NET Extended: Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Untold Dylan) [5]
    • "Goodbye Jimmy Reed had a short but intensive lifespan as a concert song, being played between 2 November 2021 and 6 April 2024."
  • Fred Tackett Talks Three Years Playing Gospel Songs with Bob Dylan (Flagging Down) [8]
    • "Tackett accompanied Dylan for every single show in those three years, from the first year in 1979 when the band was performing exclusively Dylan’s new Christian material through the end in 1981 when they were mixing oldies back into the sets. He also joined the touring band to record Saved and Shot of Love."
  • Kinky Friedman (RIP) Talks Bob Dylan Collabs (Flagging Down) [8]
    • "It wasn’t long after that that Bob bought me this Jesus coat, with spangles and all kinds of stuff on. During a thoughtless moment, I gave it away to be sold. It’s probably worth a small fortune. I heard it was in the Hard Rock Cafe in Israel."
  • The Covers We Missed: All The Tired Horses (Untold Dylan) [5]
    • "There are quite a number of covers. This doesn’t seem obvious for a song that is so reduced in musical and lyrical terms, but obviously this reduction also opens up space for the performers. Unfortunately, only a few know how to utilise this, but those who dare to do so achieve fantastic results."

New Releases & Reviews

News about new music or reviews

  • The Best of The Bootleg Series Review (Cult Following) [3]
    • "These are very solid releases and, with the context of the times, are even better than this release would suggest. A collection of tracks which are consistent enough to warrant a listen, but not in this order. Let the mind drift instead."
  • Rory Block’s Bob Dylan Tribute Album (The Blade) [3]
    • "Rory Block’s tribute to Bob Dylan features strong blues guitar but mixed vocal results."
  • The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More – Live in Toronto (Cult Following) [3]
    • "Those dates from April 18 to April 20 are a surefire collection of Dylan on stage but Live in Toronto fails to capture the spirit. Those flourishes of hardened experience and the departure from his expected deliveries are not documented. Instead, it is just stifled and thoroughly listenable performances."
  • The Double Life of Bob Dylan: Pt 1: Let’s Ignore Creativity (Untold Dylan) [5]
    • "I would argue that even within Heylin’s book we have the clear hints as to what the dominant force was in Bob Dylan at a young age: the inventiveness, the storytelling. And of course, you could reply, “but all the kids do that”."
  • Girl From The North Country at The Paramount (Broadway World) [5]
    • "The solos are fantastic but once the whole cast joins in, again, just hang on. Hard to say who would stand out in a cast like this but I certainly had my personal favorites."

New Podcasts

The latest episodes focusing on Bob Dylan

New on YouTube

The Best New Videos

Upcoming Events

From our complete Dylan Events Calendar

Multi-Date Events

Complete List of Worldwide: Bob Dylan Events Calendar

On Sale

New or special offers related to Bob Dylan

  • Christmas In The Heart (Red Vinyl)
  • Best Of The Cutting Edge '65-66 (Vinyl)
  • Rough & Rowdy Ways (180g Vinyl)
  • Fragments (TOOM Revisited)
  • Mixing Up The Medicine (Hardcover Book)
    • $44.99 (55% Off) Amazon
    • Time to Pre-Buy Xmas Presents?

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