Happy 85th Birthday Martin Carthy!

Cheers to British folk great Martin Carthy! We're celebrating with some documentary footage, interviews and performances. 

R.I.P. Nashville session guitarist Wayne Moss of Area Code 615, Barefoot Jerry

Sadly Nashville session ace Wayne Moss – who played the intro on Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," and Dolly Parton's "Jolene" – has passed away at 88. 

Remembering producer Tom Wilson on his birthday

Remembering important but unjustly overlooked producer Tom Wilson with a discussion of his work, some Sun Ra outtakes from 1956 and more. 

Writes Irwin Chusid...

Tom Wilson was a legendary record producer in the '50s and '60s. He produced four Dylan albums, and the first Simon & Garfunkel, which was a commercial failure. So Wilson added a rock backing track to the duo's acoustic recording "Sounds of Silence," and helped invent folk-rock. 

He signed and produced the first two albums by the Mothers of Invention and the Velvet Underground. A decade earlier, after graduating  Harvard in 1955, he founded Transition Records and produced the first albums by Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, and Donald Byrd. He later produced Nico's first, and co-produced the Soft Machine's debut. In 1978, at age 47, he died of a heart attack. 

In 1967 and '68 the charismatic Wilson hosted a free-form radio program called "The Music Factory," sponsored by MGM-Verve. The debut episode of that series, gone from radio since 1967, will be aired on my WFMU program... listen here: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/68065 

More info about Wilson at ProducerTomWilson.com. 

Listen to a Tom Wilson Jazz Sampler put together by Marshall Crenshaw who, despite setbacks due to the pandemic of 2020 and the passing of director Sacha Jenkins last May, is continuing work on his Tom Wilson documentary – right here. Watch a discussion of Tom Wilson's work with Richie Unterberger, an Rock's Back Pages interview with Marshall Crenshaw talking about his Tom Wilson research, followed by some Transition-era Sun Ra studio outtakes and a couple of 1967 clips from Tom Wilson's short-lived radio show The Music Factory. Read the Tom Wilson feature "The Man Who Put Electricity Into Dylan" by Michael Watts (Melody Maker, January 31, 1976) right here. 

R.I.P. Nashville guitarist/producer Jerry Kennedy, 1940-2026

Sadly, Nashville guitarist/producer Jerry Kennedy – who cut classics with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Roger Miller, etc – has died at 85. 

LINKS
SavingCountryMusic.com A-team musician/producer Jerry Kennedy has died

The Tennessean Jerry Kennedy, known for his riffs, dies at 85

Happy Birthday Harvey Brooks!

Cheers to Electric Flag bassist Harvey Brooks who played on Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis. 

Happy Birthday Ray Benson!

Celebrating the birthday of Asleep At The Wheel's Ray Benson with some performances, interviews and stories about his pals. 

Don't miss guitar slinger deluxe Albert Lee @ Hugh's Room Live, Saturday

Albert Lee played some tasty licks with Emmlou Harris as a member of her Hot Band and assisted Rockpile in the studio. 

R.I.P. Chicago keyboardist/composer Barry Goldberg, 1942-2025

Sadly, Chicago blues rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg who penned "I've Got To Use My Imagination" and backed Dylan at Newport '65 has passed away at 83.

Bob Dylan actually went electric more than two years before Newport

Hear Bob Dylan's electrified rockabilly ripper "Mixed Up Confusion" issued on December 14, 1962 – long before Newport '65.

Timothée Chalamet vs. Nardwuar

Timothée Chalamet, star of the new Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" got some gifts with a grilling from Nardwuar. 

Watch Beck perform "Maggie's Farm" & "Loser" at Newport Folk Fest

Beck paid tribute to Bob Dylan with a rip through "Maggie's Farm" at the Newport Folk Fest on Friday night... and nobody booed. 

A glimpse of Timothée Chalamet's portrayal of Bob Dylan for "A Complete Unknown"

Watch the trailer for "Walk the Line" director James Mangold's much-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" starring Timothée Chalamet.  

Toronto's Genevieve Marentette toasts Bob Dylan on his 83rd birthday

Check out Genevieve Marentette's version of Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" and Nick Drake's "River Man"

Here's the scoop from Gigi...

"On Bob Dylan's 83rd birthday, I’m sharing my cover of  'Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,'  from his legendary 1969 album Nashville Skyline.

 

"This song is a dedication to my darling flame of 5 years, my long-term dalliance, or LTD as I like to call 'em, who wrote me this beautiful bit: 

​

“Like all of us, Dylan can hear the ominous blast of the station master’s whistle. The train will inevitably leave the station. Love may not endure forever. Dylan may be singing about love that lasts a day, a week, or even a lifetime. The train is always readying to leave the station. The choice is always ours: punch our ticket or throw it out the window. Genevieve still sings this song to her lover on occasion, but sometimes, she tosses her suitcase back onto the train.”

​

"Joining me in this tribute is a stellar lineup, including Christine Bougie on lap steel, Vezi Tayyeb on keys, Eric St-Laurent and Jono Grant on guitars, George Koller on bass, Ben Wittman on drums, and Lori Cullen on background vocals. Together, we've created a sonic tribute reminiscent of "The Band". This rarely-covered song is the third single from my series of songs from 1969. Previous releases include recordings of Nick Drake’s 'River Man' and King Crimson’s 'I Talk to the Wind,' with more to come."

Listen to Gigi's versions of "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," "River Man" and "I Talk To The Wind" below. 

About Genevieve

Genevieve “Gigi” Marentette is a fixture in the Toronto music community. She was born in Leamington, Ontario, known affectionately as Tomato Town. Her father is a farmer, and her mother is a musician and social activist. As a child, Genevieve bounced around the north and south of Ontario - living communally and creatively. That upbringing helped nurture her free-spirited soul - full of saudade - and also her love of community - full of duende.   Genevieve spent her formative teen years in Detroit, where her family roots go back 265 years. She credits her unique artistry to her mom, @lindagirard and Detroit's rich musical history. After completing a college jazz diploma in Toronto, she travelled and performed extensively in Asia and Europe. Genevieve, or Gigi as her peeps call her, calls Toronto her home. Gigi has worked with Marc Houle, Theo Parrish, Recloose, David Clayton-Thomas, Jane Siberry and others. 

 

For more info and updates, visit Genevieve Marentette's site right here. 

Cat Power reimagines Bob Dylan's 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall show

Chan Marshall felt that the songs Bob Dylan played at Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966 could use a Cat Power-style update. 

Here's the scoop...

Recorded November 5, 2022 at London’s vaunted Royal Albert Hall, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert sees Marshall paying tribute to Bob Dylan with a complete live reimagining of his legendary performance at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in May 1966. Long known as the “Royal Albert Hall Concert” due to a mislabeled bootleg, the original performance saw Dylan switching from acoustic to electric midway through the show, drawing the ire of folk purists and forever altering the course of rock ‘n’ roll. Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert both lovingly honors Dylan’s imprint on history and brings a stunning new vitality to many of his most revered songs, including the recently released “She Belongs to Me” and “Ballad of a Thin Man,” both available everywhere now.

“More than the work of any other songwriter,” says Chan Marshall, “Dylan’s songs have spoken to me, and inspired me since I first began hearing them at 5 years old.”

The artist otherwise known as Chan Marshall will mark the new album’s arrival with three sold-out West Coast performances of Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, set for West Hollywood, CA’s world-renowned Troubadour (November 6 and 7) and Los Angeles’s historic Palace Theatre (November 8). The upcoming dates mark the show’s first-ever U.S. performances following sold-out shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in November 2022 and Sydney, Australia’s famed Sydney Opera House in May 2023. “Now we know how much applause it takes to lift the Albert Hall,” wrote The London Times of the debut performance, while The Telegraph summed it up as “pure celebration” in its 4-out-of-5-starred review. Sydney’s Time Out praised “the sheer transcendence” of this spring’s Opera House performance, hailing the experience as “spiked with a deep and enduring sense of timelessness, made all the more potent through Power’s pure vocals. We could’ve been anywhere, at any point in history, anywhere in the solar system…Magnificent.”

There are few voices more deeply embedded in the iconography and mythology of American indie rock than that of Chan Marshall. Under the musical nom de plume of Cat Power, Marshall has released music for nearly 25 years now and her prowess as a songwriter, a producer, and most notably – as a voice – has only grown more influential with time. Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert marks the latest in a series of albums that see Marshall reimagining classics from the American Songbook, rock ‘n’ roll history, and beyond, including 2000’s The Covers Record, 2008’s Jukebox, and 2022’s Covers, the latter of which was hailed by Pitchfork as “her widest ranging yet, illustrating her talent for radical reinvention.”

Now Cat Power recreates Dylan’s epochal 1966 concert – a 15-song set featuring classics like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,“ “Like A Rolling Stone” as well as several cuts from Blonde on Blonde including “Just Like A Woman” – with both heartfelt reverence and a deep understanding of the delicate nature of song interpretation. Like the original concert (and all of Dylan’s 1966 world tour), Marshall kept the first half of her set entirely acoustic, then went electric for the second half with the help of a full band including guitarist Arsun Sorrenti, bassist Erik Paparozzi, multi-instrumentalists Aaron Embry (harmonica, piano) and Jordan Summers (organ, Wurlitzer), and drummer Josh Adams. In her own rendition of that historic night, Marshall inhabits each song with equal parts conviction and grace and a palpable sense of protectiveness, ultimately transposing the anarchic tension of Dylan’s set with a warm and luminous joy.

“I had and still have such respect for the man who crafted so many songs that helped develop conscious thinking in millions of people, helped shape the way they see the world,” says Marshall. “So even though my hands were shaking so much I had to keep them in my pockets, I felt real dignity for myself. It felt like a real honor for me to stand there.”

 

Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert

She Belongs To Me 

Fourth Time Around 

Visions Of Johanna 

It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue 

Desolation Row 

Just Like A Woman 

Mr. Tambourine Man 

Tell Me, Momma 

I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) 

Baby, Let Me Follow You Down 

Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues 

Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat 

One Too Many Mornings 

Ballad Of A Thin Man 

Like A Rolling Stone 

Cat Power on tour:

Renowned singer-songwriter Cat Power has announced a wide-ranging headline tour that will see her celebrating her acclaimed new live album, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, with complete performances of the 15-song concert around the world. North American dates get underway February 12, 2024 at Red Bank, NJ’s historic Count Basie Theater and then continue through mid-March. Highlights include a sold-out performance at New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall (February 14) as well as newly announced shows at Nashville, TN’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater (February 25), Los Angeles, CA’s The Theatre at Ace Hotel (March 7), San Francisco, CA’s Herbst Theatre (March 8), and Portland, OR’s Revolution Hall (March 11). EU/UK dates follow in April, with stops set for prestigious venues in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. North American tickets go on sale this Friday, November 17 at 10am (local). For complete details and ticket information, please see www.catpowermusic.com/#tour.

In case you missed it,  Cat Power performed “Like A Rolling Stone” on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon which you can watch below. 

R.I.P. bassist/composer Bill Lee, 1928-2023

Sadly, bassist/composer Bill Lee – father of filmmaker Spike Lee – has passed away at the age of 94. He'll be greatly missed. 

Peter Case chats with Otis Gibbs about Bob Dylan

After a gig in Columbus, Ohio, Peter Case met up with Otis Gibbs and shared a few stories about meeting Bob Dylan and more.

Marshall Crenshaw is working on a film about producer Tom Wilson

Marshall Crenshaw is doing a documentary about Tom Wilson who produced recordings by Bob Dylan, Sun Ra, The Velvet Underground and others

 

Writes Marshall Crenshaw...

Producer Tom Wilson, whose name is on lots of records by Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Simon & Garfunkel,  The Mothers Of Invention, Eric Burdon and The Animals, et. al., was also an important producer of Modern Jazz, and an important discoverer of jazz talent, starting with the establishment of his own Transition Records label in 1955. Here are a few examples thereof!...

I put this list together for private consumption, but have been encouraged to take it public, so here goes!.. Hopefully you can listen to these great sounds on some decent speakers or headphones.

Cheers,

MC

Check out Marshall Crenshaw's Tom Wilson jazz recordings playlist right here (track list below). 

Read a New York Times Magazine interview with Tom Wilson from Sept. 29, 1968 over here. And a brief profile on Tom Wilson by Michael Cocoran from 2015 right here.  

TRACKS:

Perry Robinson- Farmer Alfalfa - (Perry Robinson; clarinet, Kenny Barron; piano,  Henry Grimes; bass, Paul Motian; drums) from “Funk Dumpling”- Savoy LP (1962)

Herbie Mann- African Suite, Bedouin Pt. 1 (Herbie Mann; flute,  Johnny Rae; vibraphone, Bob Corwin; piano, Jack Six; bass, Carlos “Patata” Valdes; congas, Jose Mangual; bongos) from “Herbie Mann’s African Suite”- United Artists LP (1959)

Walt Dickerson- Bacon and Eggs - (Walt Dickerson; vibraphone, Sun Ra; piano, Bob Cunningham; bass, Roger Blank; drums) from “Impressions of ’A Patch Of Blue’”- MGM LP (1965)

Bill Hardman- Capers - (Bill Hardman; trumpet, Sonny Red; alto saxophone, Ronnie Matthews; piano, Bob Cunningham; bass, Jimmy Cobb; drums) from “Saying Something”- Savoy LP (1962) 

Sun Ra- Where Is Tomorrow? - (Sun Ra; piano, Bernard McKinney; trombone, euphonium, Marshall Allen; alto sax, flute, John Gilmore; tenor sax, bass clarinet, Pat Patrick; bass saxophone, Willie Jones; drums, Leah Ananda; conga) from “The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra”- Savoy LP (1961)

Cecil Taylor/John Coltrane- Just Friends - (Cecil Taylor; piano, Kenny Dorham; trumpet, John Coltrane; tenor saxophone, Chuck Israels; bass, Louis Hayes; drums) from “Hard Driving Jazz”- United Artists LP (1959), reissued in 1963 as “Coltrane Time”  

Hugh Masekela- Unhlanhia - (Hugh Masekela; cornet, Hal Dotson; bass, Larry Willis; piano, Henry Jenkins; drums) from “The Americanization of Ooga Booga”- MGM LP (1966)

Donald Byrd- El Sino - (Donald Byrd; trumpet, Joe Gordon; trumpet, Horace Silver; piano, Doug Watkins; bass, Art Blakey; drums) from “Byrd’s Eye View”- Transition LP (1956)

Curtis Fuller- I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone - (Curtis Fuller; trombone, Lee Morgan; trumpet, Hank Mobley; tenor saxophone, Tommy Flanagan; piano, Paul Chambers; bass, Elvin Jones; drums, Benny Golson; arranger) from “Sliding Easy”- United Artists LP (1959)

Cecil Taylor- Little Lees - (Cecil Taylor; piano, Buell Neidlinger; bass, Denis Charles; drums, Bill Barron; tenor saxophone, Ted Curson; trumpet) from “Love For Sale”- United Artists LP (1959)

Art Farmer- Stella By Starlight - (Art Farmer; trumpet, Lee Morgan; trumpet, Ernie Royal; trumpet, Julius Watkins; French horn, Jimmy Cleveland; trombone, Curtis Fuller; trombone, James Haughton; baritone horn, Don Butterfield; tuba, Percy Heath; bass, Philly Joe Jones; drums, Benny Golson; arranger and conductor)

from “Brass Shout”- United Artists LP (1959)

Eddie Harris- Hip Hoppin’ - (Eddie Harris; tenor saxophone, Warren Stephens; guitar, Melvin Jackson; bass, Bucky Taylor; drums, unidentified organist) from “Cool Sax, Warm Heart”- Columbia LP (1964) 

Cecil Taylor- Aure - (Cecil Taylor; piano, Buell Neidlinger; bass, Denis Charles; drums) from “Jazz Advance”- Transition LP (1956)

Sun Ra and His Arkestra- Future - (Sun Ra; piano, Art Hoyle; trumpet, percussion, Dave Young; trumpet, percussion, Julian Priester; trombone, percussion, James Scales; alto saxophone, John Gilmore; tenor saxophone, percussion, Pat Patrick; baritone saxophone, percussion, Richard Evans; bass, Wilbur Green; Fender bass, percussion, Robert Barry; drums, Jim Herndon; tympani) from “Jazz by Sun Ra”- Transition LP (1957)

That time The Plugz backed Dylan on Late Night with David Letterman

Check out Bob Dylan doing "Don't Start Me Talkin'" & "Jokerman" with L.A. punk crew The Plugz back in 1984. 

That time Johnny Paycheck played "Old Violin" at a guitar pull

Here's Johnny Paycheck's performance of "Old Violin" which Bob Dylan found so moving he had to write about it in his new book. 

Elvis Costello recalls his first face-to-face encounter with Bob Dylan

Elvis Costello takes a crack at "I Threw It All Away" after an entertaining tale about meeting Bob Dylan for the first time in 1978.