Dave Stewart, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Songwriter Hall of Famer, Eurythmics co-founder, producer, and renowned songwriter — has announced the album “Dave Does Dylan“. Set as a limited-edition vinyl release for Record Store Day, the 14-song homage to Bob Dylan will be available at indie record stores on Saturday, April 12 via Surfdog Records. Featuring just Stewart on vocals and guitars recorded in one take, the album finds him performing seemingly inspired renditions of Dylan’s songs. Stewart is also set to tape an episode of “Recorded Live at Analog” on March 22 at Analog inside The Hutton Hotel in Nashville. He’ll perform songs from the album with the addition of strings, pedal steel guitar, and keys. The show will air on PBS in July (exact date TBA).
Dylan has said of Stewart: “Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order, very delicately tractable on the surface but beneath that, he’s a slamming, thumping, battering ram, very mystical but rational and sensitive when it comes to the hot irons of art forms. An explosive musician, a deft guitar player, innately recognizes the genius in other people and puts it into play without being manipulative.“
Stewart is a little more detailed in his descriptions of Bob in his memoir, ‘Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life In Music’:
“When I was first learning the guitar, I was about 14 or 15 years old — which would’ve been like 1964 or ’65. I was insistent on getting into folk clubs and I would play Bob Dylan songs from his albums that my brother had left behind when he went to college. The audience was always a bit shocked that this kid, who looked so young, was singing these lyrics — especially in that kind of folk club. It was mostly old folk music that was being played from the local area about the coal mines and the shipyards, which I loved too…and Dylan would have loved also. I started to sing and play these Dylan songs anywhere I could; in other folk clubs, even on the street all over the northeast of England. From then on, I got every Bob Dylan album — and still do to this day — on Vinyl and in every possible variation.
One day in 1985, I received a phone call from Bob Dylan while I was in the studio in Los Angeles. At first, I thought it was my friend joking when the receptionist said ‘Bob Dylan on the phone for you,’ but I could tell as soon as he spoke, it was Bob. We met up that night and we talked about everything; films, music, life, etc… and we ended up in a great Mexican place in South L.A. He knew everybody and he said, ‘Hey, why don’t we make a video tomorrow or the next day?’ It was already two in the morning, but I agreed and I helped make various videos with him during which we became great friends. Years later, I filmed “Blood In My Eyes,” which is a video I shot on two 8mm cameras — just the two of us walking around Camden town.
I’ve played on stage with Bob in London, L.A., and Tokyo, and I find conversations with him —whether on the phone or when together— relaxed and easy. As you can imagine, he is full of great observations and wisdom, all wrapped up in a poetic language. I’m so, so grateful for getting to know him personally and to now record this album of songs after years of singing them to friends and myself. It’s been a long road and these lyrics and melodies have kept me company through the best and the worst of times. I hope my album can do the same for Dylan fans out there—who understand the mastery and the mystery Bob has bestowed on us, and still does to this day.”
Stewart has over 100 million record sales to his name as a performer or producer that’s sales, not streams! His wide-ranging work has earned him a long list of honors, including over fifty ASCAP and BMI Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards for “Best Songwriter,” four BRIT Awards for “Best Producer” (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), a Golden Globe Award, and a GRAMMY® Award.
“Dave Does Dylan” tracklist:
Simple Twist Of Fate
I Want You
Emotionally Yours
Forever Young
To Ramona
Make You Feel My Love
Lay, Lady, Lay
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Spanish Harlem Incident
Shelter From The Storm
She Belongs To Me
Visions Of Johanna
With no pre-release track to preview here is a snapshot of the time when Andy Kershaw interviewed Dylan and Stewart in Crouch End way back when in 1985. It’s not great quality, but it certainly gives a flavour of their collaboration.
