Cause I’m a poet, don’t you know it
And the wind you can blow it
‘Cause I’m Mr. Dylan the king
And I’m as free as a bird on the wing
from Bob Dylan Blues by Syd Barrett
I suppose it is a topic that can be debated, but, for me, the kings of American music are: Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Johnny Cash, Levon Helm, Jerry Garcia, Willie Nelson and, of course, Bob Dylan. Only two of these titans remain with us, Nelson (age 90) and Dylan.(age 85) Both are still remarkably vital and relevant performers. I saw Dylan in Nashville on Saturday, with my two sons, on the last US night of the current leg of his Neverending Tour. He was simply brilliant from start to finish. By the way, if you are one of those people who say “Dylan can’t sing”, get the fuck out with that nonsense. His singing was perfect. These same types probably think Tom Waits and Willie Nelson can’t sing.
It had been over 20 years since my last Dylan concert. This was my 4th time around. The previous three ranged from horrific to good to transcendent. Saturday night in Nashville falls in the transcendent category. During the ethereal finale of I Shall Be Released, fireworks suddenly rang out near the Ascend Amphitheater. A few in the crowd mistook the loud pops for gunfire and sprinted to the exits. We did not move. Jonathan said, “Well, if its our time to go, it might as well be during I Shall Be Released.” I had to agree. My boys were raised on Bob Dylan music.
I fell in love with Dylan’s music during high school, first through the unparalleled Blonde on Blonde, which I discovered in a small collection of records an aunt had left at my grandmothers house, along with The Beatles White Album, Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison and Headquarters by The Monkees. During my freshman year at Mississippi State, many evenings were spent in my friend Jon Lessem’s tiny Evans Hall dorm room listening to Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks and the then recent Dylan album Infidels. We worked in Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues quite frequently. Those Dylan albums are like great works of literature – they can transport you to another world. I have stayed a fan over the years, anticipating the release any new music like that long ago high school kid. Instead of slowing down in his later years, Dylan had toured relentlessly. He has released arguably his greatest run of studio albums after the age of 50 – Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times, Tempest and the stunning stone classic, Rough and Rowdy Ways at that age of 80! Those five albums alone assure his greatness – and this is only the latter third of his career. No other artist, except perhaps Leonard Cohen, has remained so artistically relevant so late in life.
It was a cool, clear night in downtown Nashville. The arcane gods of American music conspired to spare us from the Death Train to Hell of August humidity in Nashville, as Jimmie Vaughn opened the evening with a tight set of horn section backed Texas R&B. Lucinda Williams, arguably the reigning Queen of American music, followed shortly after Vaughn. Despite appearing a bit frail from health issues, her voice was strong as she stormed through a volcanic set of classics – Joy, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues (which she sweetly dedicated to her hero, Bob), before closing with a thunderous take on Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. She walked slowly off the stage to a sustained standing ovation from the packed crowd. I found myself getting a bit emotional at the scene. She is a legend. A national treasure.
Dylan and his band, which has recently added virtuouso jazz guitarist Julian Lage, soon walked out to a dimly lit stage. Without so much as a warm up note, they launched into Watching the River Flow and continued non-stop for 16 songs, the only brief breaks coming when Vaughn surprisingly joined the band for three songs. The set list:
- Watching The River Flow
- Man In The Long Black Coat
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- Tryin’ To Get To Heaven
- False Prophet (Jimmie Vaughan on guitar)
- I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover, Jimmie Vaughan on guitar)
- Black Rider
- Share Your Love With Me (Bobby “Blue” Bland cover)
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- I’ll Make It All Up To You (Jerry Lee Lewis cover)
- Crossing the Rubicon
- Soon After Midnight
- Under The Red Sky
- I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
- Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Jimmie Vaughan on guitar)
- I Shall Be Released
Dylan crouched behind his electric keyboard, which was high in the mix, in a grey hoodie – like an ancient wizard from The Lord of the Rings. He only spoke to the crowd twice all night, saying “Mr. Jimmie Vaughn” at the end of Vaughn’s two guest spots. I watched closely and the band clearly took all the musical cues either from Dylan or his longtime bassist Tony Garnier. Dylan would nod his head, almost imperceptibly, to signal the end of each song, often concluding a wonderful short jam.
There were several highlights among these 16 intricate jewel-like songs. The Man in the Long Black Coat lurched into the Tennessee night like an old steamboat gliding up the nearby Cumberland River – churning and progressing like an ancient hymn to a lost love and an evil rival.
False Prophet, from Rough and Rowdy Ways, rolled and tumbled like a Missisippi Delta juke joint on a Saturday night, with Vaughn joining to add tight, chordal blues runs. His spare and restrained style is the perfect match for the type of music Dylan has made for the last 30 years.
Crossing the Rubicon and Under the Red Sky were the other two standouts. Julian Lage was a revelation, adding complex yet succint jazz/rock runs that transformed each song. During the recording of Under the Red Sky in 1990, heavy metal guitarist Slash was invited to play on the album. Famously, his only communication with Dylan the entire session was to “play it like Django Reinhardt.” The French jazz guitarist is a hero of Dylan’s. 30 years later, Under the Red Sky has been transformed. Julian Lage can, in fact, play it like Django Reinhardt. He was a star of the night and a brilliant addition to the band. We can only dream of a new Dylan album with Lage on guitar.
The show ended, of course, with a lovely, mournful rendition of I Shall Be Released. A young kid sitting behind us said loudly, “I wonder if he will come back out and play Like a Rolling Stone”. Jon and Jake looked at me and smiled. No, he would not come back out.
Bob Dylan stood quietly for about 15 seconds facing the rapturous crowd and then he was gone into the night. At age 85, he remains the greatest master of American music. Like Robert Johnson, Dylan has always been a cypher. Unlike Johnson, he has lived a long life. We are lucky to still have him. He is the King.