The 1974 album Planet Waves marked a series of firsts for Bob Dylan. It was his first official album with The Band. It was his first record not on the Columbia label. And it was, believe it or not, his first No. 1 album.

Todd Haynes' 2007 film, I’m Not There, is anything but your grandpa’s bio-pic. For one thing, absolutely no one in the film is named “Bob Dylan”—the feature’s ostensible subject. In fact, no one utters the words “Bob Dylan,” and many of the events depicted have, at most, a tangential relationship to the life and times of said Bob Dylan. On the other hand, Dylan’s music features prominently and wonderfully throughout/ and some settings, dialogue, and events are Dylan lyrics put to film.

Last time we discussed just the covers that Bob Dylan and the members of what would become The Band recorded during the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions. Be sure to check out part 1 if you missed it.

Today we are back with part 2 to explore the Bob Dylan originals recorded during those sessions.

The Basement Tapes occupy a unique place of honor in the pantheon of Dylan legends. Coming just after two other legendary events—the “going electric” performance and subsequent tour and Dylan’s motorcycle accident—the 1967 recordings were a collaboration between Bob Dylan and his previous backing group who would soon after become the members of The Band. The tracks they laid down—first in Dylan’s house in Woodstock, NY, and then literally in the basement of the house dubbed Big Pink that three members of the Band rented—were never meant for the public. They consist of covers of pop songs, folk numbers, and blues. In addition They recorded a large number of Dylan originals, some apparently intended as demos for other musicians to record.

My piece was an attempt to summarize the Race Massacre, which many still have never heard of, and to grapple with the placement of the Bob Dylan Center Archive in the neighboring Tulsa Arts District, itself a site of considerable racial tension.

I am revisiting the piece because of recent news that a decades-old attempt by survivors of the Massacre to obtain reparations has finally failed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Only one year after the triumphal release of “Oh Mercy,” Dylan came out with 1990’s “Under the Red Sky.” The album is known for its all-star musicians—George Harrison, Slash, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby, Al Kooper, David Lindley, and others—and was produced by Don Was. It is filled with the language and structure of children’s songs and music—which is befitting an album dedicated to “Gabby Goo-Goo,” likely Dylan’s then-toddler daughter, Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan. There are counting songs, fairytales, and echoes of nursery rhymes. But the songs often sport an ominous feel that is hard to shake, which, if we are being fair, is not too different from traditional children’s folk literature.

Twenty-one years ago, the whole wide world was stunned by the release of a new Bob Dylan project unlike any before, a feature-length movie of his own creation aimed at a generalish audience.

Led by a future Nobel Laureate co-crafting the satirical script, populated with a brilliantly star-studded cast, and helmed by a maverick director out to compose what he described as “a great Bob Dylan song” in film, Masked and Anonymous was destined to be a masterpiece. It. Could. Not. Fail.

His lifelong  passion for music has resulted in The Wherehouse being a hub for young  local musicians to perform as well as network. The decor is also reflective of the passionate musical journey he has taken. And though he is a fan of many bands and performers, Bob Dylan stands above the crowd not only as a songwriter but most important as a storyteller. On more tidbit: the Wherehouse serves a drink called “Blood on the Tracks,” which features Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door whiskey.

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Bob Dylan’s 15th, 16th, and 17th studio albums, Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire, had been solid successes when he released Street-Legal in 1978. The album was not universally well received by critics although it was a commercial success.

The band was mostly drawn from the large ensemble performing during Dylan’s Japanese and Australian tours and notably included a chorus consisting of Dylan’s future wife Carolyn Dennis, veteran singer Jo Ann Harris, and Helena Sprigs, who was all of 17 at the time.

Bob Dylan’s 31st studio album, “Love and Theft,” was released on September 11, 2001. The album’s lyrics are among the first to be heavily researched for references to and lifts from other works, and there are many—perhaps most notably some lines from Japanese true crime writer Junichi Saga’s Confessions of a Yakuza. The songs are rich with characters—men and women, real and fanciful—and events— as devastating as a flood and as benign as the sound of fornication in the room next door. And there is humor, including some hardcore dad jokes.

Sonically the album is as eclectic as any Dylan has released, spanning such genres as rockabilly, old-timey torch ballads, and some of the most hard-driving blues Dylan has ever produced.

"Henry Bernstein has seen Bob Dylan 27 times in concert and owns three items autographed by him: a copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ album, a photograph of the singer and a “John Wesley Harding” songbook. His favorite song is “Tangled Up in Blue.”

Henry says this is a double crowning achievement in life. When he's not obsessing over Bob Dylan Henry works in Operations and Logistics for a local Jewish Day School in Chicago. His other great loves besides his family and Bob Dylan are Superman, Star Trek and the Chicago White Sox. In 2018 Henry along with his friend Rabbi Brandon Bernstein (no relation) took their love of Judaism and Comic Books and started a podcast called "Funny They Don't Look Jewish." Henry describes the podcast as a deep dive into explicit Jewish content within super-hero comic books. This can be a character identifying as Jewish, practicing Judaism, speaking Hebrew, learning Torah and everything in-between. Henry also co-hosts a podcast with Dr. Sam Brody called Superman & Lois & Pals, an episode by episode review of the popular CW tv show.  Henry can be heard talking about Bob Dylan often on Pod Dylan. Henry credits his dear friend Rob Kelly with introducing him to the Bob Dylan Twitter community and giving him a platform to be a voice in that group.

Henry lives on the Northside of Chicago with his wife—a guitar playing rockstar rabbi—and his two young children, all of whom enjoy Bob Dylan and tolerate his obsession. 

"Henry Bernstein has seen Bob Dylan 27 times in concert and owns three items autographed by him: a copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ album, a photograph of the singer and a “John Wesley Harding” songbook. His favorite song is “Tangled Up in Blue.”

Henry says this is a double crowning achievement in life. When he's not obsessing over Bob Dylan Henry works in Operations and Logistics for a local Jewish Day School in Chicago. His other great loves besides his family and Bob Dylan are Superman, Star Trek and the Chicago White Sox. In 2018 Henry along with his friend Rabbi Brandon Bernstein (no relation) took their love of Judaism and Comic Books and started a podcast called "Funny They Don't Look Jewish." Henry describes the podcast as a deep dive into explicit Jewish content within super-hero comic books. This can be a character identifying as Jewish, practicing Judaism, speaking Hebrew, learning Torah and everything in-between. Henry also co-hosts a podcast with Dr. Sam Brody called Superman & Lois & Pals, an episode by episode review of the popular CW tv show.  Henry can be heard talking about Bob Dylan often on Pod Dylan. Henry credits his dear friend Rob Kelly with introducing him to the Bob Dylan Twitter community and giving him a platform to be a voice in that group.

Henry lives on the Northside of Chicago with his wife—a guitar playing rockstar rabbi—and his two young children, all of whom enjoy Bob Dylan and tolerate his obsession. 

As much as we love Bob Dylan’s many versions of his own music, we at Million $ Bash would be remiss if we did not discuss some of the gazillions of covers of Dylan’s work. Given the buzz emanating from Cat Power’s reconstruction of Dylan’s set from his 1966 British tour, it makes sense to discuss specifically covers of Dylan by women.

At about the 20:30 mark, Bella references her artwork. You can see the piece in the screenshot below.

For a video version of the Zoom interview, click below.

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Rebecca Slaman is a freelance writer and editor. She has a BA from Fordham University in English and Classics. Her writing specializes in fan communities on social media. She has been cited as a Bob Dylan expert in speaking engagements at University of Tulsa and Florida International University. You can find her on Twitter @ithrewtheglass, on the web at http://rslaman.wixsite.com/website, and on Substack.

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A panel from the World of Bob Dylan, June 2, 2023, Tulsa, OK

The publication of Bob Dylan's The Philosophy of Modern Song in 2022 has elicited much commentary related to song selection, the question of breadth, and the notion of a central philosophy tying it all together. What this panel suggests is that this book contains thematic threads beyond the songs themselves that comment on Dylan’s relationship with the past and the contemporary moment.

* Rob Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University.  He's currently at work on a book about Dylan's album John Wesley Harding.

* Nina Goss is Editor of or contributor to the volumes Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the 21st Century and Dylan at Play. She is a contributor to various anthologies and presented at the first World of Bob Dylan conference (2019), and Dylan and the Beats conference in Tulsa (2022). She teaches at Fordham University.

* Court Carney is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he teaches courses on Black history and cultural history. He is finishing a book manuscript on the public memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

* Erin Callahan lives in the Houston, Texas, area where she teaches English at San Jacinto College. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.

* Graley Herren is an English professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he regularly teaches a first-year seminar on Bob Dylan. He is author of the book Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, and he has a Substack newsletter devoted to Dylan called Shadow Chasing.

Comments are welcome.

Yours in Dylanology, Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

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Culture critic, artist, prolific podcaster, and host of Pod Dylan, Rob Kelly, is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Rob Kelly is an award-winning writer, illustrator, and pop culture historian. He was the creator/editor of the book HEY KIDS, COMICS!: TRUE-LIFE TALES FROM THE SPINNER RACK, and writes the Reel Retro Cinema column for 13ThDimension.com. He is the host of FADE OUT, M*A*S*HCAST, and TREASURYCAST, and co-hosts WHO'S WHO'S: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE  and SUPERMAN MOVIE MINUTE. Most importantly for The Dylantantes, he is the longtime host of Pod Dylan.

Comments are most welcome.

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Music and cultural journalist Allison Rapp is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Allison Rapp is a music and culture journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Brooklyn Magazine, Rock Cellar, City Limits, and more. She currently works as an assistant editor at Ultimate Classic Rock where she's interviewed the likes of Peter Frampton, Roger McGuinn, John Oates and others. She tweets at @allisonrapp22. 

Comments are most welcome.

Dylanpreneur Craig Danuloff is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Craig Danuloff is host of the Dylan.FM, which is a podcast and website he’s running as part of the Freak Music Club. When not being an obsessive Dylan fan, he’s a technology entrepreneur who has founded a series of companies, most recently relating to consumer privacy and identity verification. 20+ years ago, Craig wrote 20+ computer books, mostly about software that no longer exists. 

As part of Dylan.FM he does a weekly news recap of all things Dylan, that you can find at freakmusic.substack.com.

Comments are most welcome.

Yours in Dylanology, Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

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Roundtable Panelists:

Rob Reginio, Nina Goss, Court Carney, Erin Callahan, Graley Herren

Dr Nina Goss is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast (interview by Erin Callahan)

Nina Goss was born and raised in New York.  She earned her BA from University of Rochester and her MFA and PhD from the University of Washington and currently teaches at Fordham University.  She is quite prolific in her work on Dylan. Since she started researching and writing about Dylan, Nina has been widely published in numerous collections, anthologies, and journals on Dylan, has edited the journal Montague Street and the anthologies Dylan at Play in 2011 and Tearing the World Apart in 2017, and has presented her work at conferences in the US and abroad. 

Dr. Robert Reginio is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Rob Reginio is a professor English at Alfred University in Western New York. He is the editor of and contributor to the collection Samuel Beckett and Contemporary Art. He has published and presented widely on modernism and memory and has published pieces on Dylan and race and Dylan and Emmanuel Levinas. He is a member of the editorial board of The Dylan Review. He serves as the Hagar Professor of the Humanities at Alfred University and is currently at work on a book about the poetics of the Dylan album John Wesley Harding. He also provided a fantastic piece for The Dylantantes back in June of 2022 entitled “‘Is the Village Green Preservation Society:’ Notes on Dylan, Memory, and Pilgrimages.”

Comments are most welcome.

Yours in Dylanology,  Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

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Dr. Graley Herren is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Graley is Professor and Chair of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He is the author of Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, published by Anthem Press in 2021 and now available in paperback.

He is also the author of books on Samuel Beckett and Don DeLillo, and many articles and book chapters, including several on Dylan. Each year he teaches a first-year seminar on Dylan, and he is currently working on a book studying all of Dylan’s concerts in the Cincinnati area.

Comments are most welcome.

Yours in Dylanology,  Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

Thanks for reading The Dylantantes! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Dr. Court Carney is our second guest on The Dylantantes podcast.

Court is a history professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He is  the author of Cutting Up: How Early Jazz Got America’s Ear and is currently finishing a manuscript on the public memory and image of the infamous rat-b*****d Nathan Bedford Forrest.

For fun, he is a member of a teaching/research group centered on Woodie Guthrie and is co-editing — along with our inaugural guest, Erin Callahan — a collection of essays exploring Dylan’s set lists.

Court and I speak about the importance of Dylan in our culture and across the generations. We wrap up with a discussion of Dylan and jazz.

Caveat Auditor

Despite my best efforts, there is a mysterious clicking throughout. I am still learning, but Court’s many insights are worth the aesthetic shortcomings.

Comments are most welcome.

Yours in Dylanology,  Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

You want to talk to meGo ahead and talkWhatever you got to say to meWon’t come as any shockI must be guilty of somethingYou just whisper it into my ear

Also, feel free to share the material widely.

Thanks for sailing with us!

What Is It about Bob Dylan?

This interview with Dr. Erin Callahan constitutes the inaugural podcast of The Dylantantes. Erin is a brilliant Bob Dylan thinker who has flown under the radar a bit, as we discuss during our conversation.

Erin teaches English at San Jacinto College in Texas. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.

I am proud to have Erin as our inaugural guest, and I anticipate we will be hearing her compelling voice much more frequently both on this site and out there in the Dylan ether.

Caveat Auditor

The sound quality is a little harsh, particularly on my side. I am new to this podcast interview thing, but I know that the content will more than make up for the technical and aesthetic shortcomings.

Comments are most welcome.

Yours in Dylanology,  Jim Salvucci The Dylantantes

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