cover versions

Full Dylan album covered – Nashville Skyline

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Nashville Skyline is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records.

Building on the rustic style he experimented with on John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline displayed a complete immersion into country music. Along with the more basic lyrical themes, simple songwriting structures, and charming domestic feel, it introduced audiences to a radically new singing voice from Dylan—a soft, affected country croon.

I’ve picked 10 fine interpretations of the songs on this country classic from Bob Dylan.

My two favourites are The Black Crowes with Girl From The North Country and Scott Avett’s fine take on One More Night.

1. The Black Crowes – Girl From The North Country( live, 2008):

 

Continue reading “Full Dylan album covered – Nashville Skyline” →

November 12: Neil Young is 75 today – Singing 6 Bob Dylan songs

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about ’72 and the big song at the time was “Heart of Gold.” I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to “Heart of Gold.” I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I’d say, “Shit, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.
-Bob Dylan (to Scott Cohen, September 1985)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Young had released two solo albums and three as a member of Buffalo Springfield by the time he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969. From his early solo albums and those with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has recorded a steady stream of studio and live albums, sometimes warring with his recording company along the way.

Continue reading “November 12: Neil Young is 75 today – Singing 6 Bob Dylan songs” →

Lou Reed – Foot Of Pride – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Lou Reed – Foot of Pride – The Best Dylan Covers

“That’s the song I picked to do at Bobfest (in New York in 1992). I’d been listening to it almost every day for two months. It’s so fucking funny: ‘Did he make it to the top? Well, he probably did and dropped.’ There are so many verses, it was impossible to learn. G.E. Smith, who was playing with me, turned the pages. There is a lot of anger here. It’s not the Three Stooges.”
– Lou Reed

Foot of Pride is an outtake from the Infidels sessions. As with most Dylan albums, outtakes and rough mixes from Infidels were bootlegged and these sessions had some very interesting gems. A take of Foot of Pride with Bob Dylan was later released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3.

Bob Dylan has not performed the song live (to my knowledge) but Lou Reed does a great job.

Continue reading “Lou Reed – Foot Of Pride – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sings 10 Bob Dylan songs – Happy birthday Gillian Welch!

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

–

Happy birthday Gillian Welch, born October 2 1967.

She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as “at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms.”

Edit: here is one more (now we’ve found 10), Abandoned Love:

 

Here are some great Bob Dylan cover versions:

Gillian Welch sings Bob Dylan’s Rambling, Gambling Willie during early morning sound check in Lyons Colorado (2016?):

Continue reading “Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sings 10 Bob Dylan songs – Happy birthday Gillian Welch!” →

Bob Dylan sings 11 Hank Williams songs

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

I believe in Hank Williams singing `I Saw the Light.’ I’ve seen the light, too.”
– Bob Dylan (1997)

Hank Williams was the first influence, I would think, I guess, for a longer period of time than anybody else.
~Bob Dylan (Bronstein Interview, Montreal, 1966)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, Feb 1965)

If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton, June 1978)

Bob Dylan has referenced Hank Williams in interviews, in books, and with music a lot of times. Williams was also mentioned in the liner notes on Dylan’s first two albums:

Bob Dylan (1962):

Bob Dylan started to sing and play guitar when he was ten. Five to six years later he wrote his first song, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. All the time, he listened to everything with both ears — Hank Williams, the late Jimmie Rodgers, Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Carl Perkins, early Elvis Presley.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan(1963):

Among the musicians and singers who influenced him were Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb and Big Joe Williams.

Lets start with a lovely scene from “Don’t Look Back” (1967, D. A. Pennebaker) where Bob sings Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” and “So Lonesome I Could Cry“:

“The songs of Woody Guthrie ruled my universe, but before that, Hank Williams had been my favorite songwriter, though I thought of him as a singer, first.”
– Bob Dylan (Chronicles)

Continue reading “Bob Dylan sings 11 Hank Williams songs” →

Nina Simone Sings Bob Dylan

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

Eunice Kathleen Waymon aka. Nina Simone was the sixth of eight children, she grew up in poverty in Tryon, North Carolina. Her family wished for her was that she should be the world’s finest classical pianist. She did  not get into the schools she wanted and always blamed racism.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Born the sixth child of a preacher’s family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. When she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist she was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of “I Loves You, Porgy” was a hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958—when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue—and 1974.
– Wikipedia
[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Simone has dug deep into the american song tradition and it comes as no surprise that she has done several of Bob Dylan’s songs. She is an incredible interpreter of Dylan.

The first song is a contender for best Bob Dylan cover ever done (yes, I am aware of Hendrix’ Watchtower).

The Ballad of Hollis Brown(live,Mickery Theatre, The Netherlands in 1965):

Continue reading “Nina Simone Sings Bob Dylan” →