the UK home for americana music
With working from home and self-isolation the new normal for the foreseeable, we’ve put together a soundtrack of daily tracks to get you through the first week. Feeling lonesome and blue? These artists are too… Continue reading “Your first week in isolation: Seven songs about loneliness”
A little extra for today – since Johnny Winter would have been 76 years old yesterday, and sometimes you just really need to hear a ten minute take on Dylan’s classic with some screeching guitar playing. This is from the album ‘Captured Live‘ and is just – right enough – on fire. Enjoy. Continue reading “Johnny Winter “Highway 61 Revisited” – Listen”
This week the great and the good, the mediocre and the medium and the poor and the poorest of the residents of Americana-UK Towers (actually they were all great and good but we like to be inclusive) went on a jolly to the windswept north of the country in order to conduct The Annual General Meeting. Continue reading “Pick of the Political Pops: Bob Dylan “It’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall””
“Come you masters of war you that build the big guns, You that build the death planes, You that build all the bombs, You that hide behind walls, You that hide behind desks. I just want you to know I can see through your masks.” As the drumbeats grow louder again. FFS.
Mark Underwood continues his irregular feature on music by great songwriters with great lyrics.
Continue reading “10 songs for lovers of great writing”
This December sees the return of the hit musical ‘Girl from the North Country‘ to the London stage. Based on the music of Bob Dylan it has a plot which it is safe to say separates it from all those jukebox musicals. The setting is a guesthouse in the heartland of America in 1934 and the interweaving stories of those who live and stay there are played out through re-imaginings of predominantly Bob Dylan’s less well known songs. Continue reading “Dylan’s Girl from the North Country hits Town (again)”
Bob Dylan’s quicksilver nature was captured in that memorable phrase ‘wild mercury sound’, and he’s continued to show his prowess as an alchemist mixing up the medicine and creating mighty potent potions. What does this have to do with the Bootleg series though. Well, there is a hint in the picture. Continue reading “Bob Dylan announces new Bootleg Series release”
It’s all in aid of the new Dylan Bootleg Series release, naturally, but Jason Isbell and Rosanne Cash are two of those talking about ‘Nashville Skyline‘ and ‘John Wesley Harding‘ on a short film put out by Columbia Records. Continue reading “Jason Isbell & Rosanne Cash talk about Dylan in Nashville”
The first impression of ‘Bootleg Series 15: Travelin’ Thru‘ is how small it looks in comparison to recent releases in the Dylan archive series – we’ve been spoilt of course but this is no ‘Live ’66 Complete Recordings‘ or ‘More Blood, More Tracks‘. Three CDs and an illustrated background booklet make up the contents of the small box covering Dylan’s activities from 1967-1969. Disc One covers both ‘John Wesley Harding‘ and ‘Nashville Skyline‘ outtakes, Disc Two is material culled from a two hour session with Johnny Cash which continues onto Disc Three which also has Dylan’s appearance on the Johnny Cash show, two outtakes from ‘Self Portrait‘ and the material recorded for the ‘Earl Scruggs. His Family & Friends‘ film. And if that all sounds a trifle “bitty” then that’s because it is quite “bitty”. Continue reading “Bob Dylan “Bootleg Series 15: Travellin’ Thru” (Columbia Records, 2019)”
It’s 1969 and Dylan is not doing the same as everyone else – he’s beating his own path to Nashville and will cut an album that is unique within his body of work – it’s country. Everyone else may be blazing a psychedelic path – but Bob Dylan had a set of songs he wanted to record and he was studio ready. The result was ‘Nashville Skyline‘, and that preparedness meant there weren’t many takes or variations on the songs – this time they were not “studio evolved“. Continue reading “Bob Dylan “Lay Lady Lay (Take 2)” – Listen”