Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers

Visit the pivotal developments of Bob Dylan's professional life in November of 1962 as we travel "A Highway of Diamonds" back 60 years. Dylan returns to the Columbia Recording Studio A in Manhattan to finish recording his first single and to continue recording his second album. He performs at Gerde's Folk City and he prepares to leave for England. A 60th anniversary is a diamond anniversary, so this week, and throughout the year, we will periodically take a trip on "a highway of diamonds," exploring the events of Bob Dylan's career sixty years ago. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in November of 1962 and November of 2022. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us which version of "Mixed Up Confusion" is better: the one recorded on November 1, 1962 and released 23 years later on BIOGRAPH or the one recorded on November 14, 1962 and released one month later as the A-side to Dylan's first single? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

This episode continues a monthly, ten-part series celebrating the tenth anniversary of TEMPEST, featuring the seventh track on the album, "Early Roman Kings." In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan, which includes the long-awaited news about Bootleg Series vol. 17 on TIME OUT OF MIND, the wrapping up of Dylan's 2022 tour, and the passing of a musician fellow traveler. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote this week to tell us who did “Early Roman Kings" better: Peter Case or Bob Dylan? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

Because of the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is a fraught month, but the day before the Crisis begins — although the Crisis was not made public for another week — Dylan performs the first of what could legitimately join his (considerably long) list of "greatest concerts." Certainly, his Gaslight performance after hours with the closed sign on the door reveals Dylan in a character and mood he would not often sustain for an entire concert again. At the end of the month, he is back in the studio performing songs for what would become The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but instead of leaning into the tender emotive voice of the Gaslight show less than two weeks before, he plays a couple rock & roll numbers. A 60th anniversary is a diamond anniversary, so this week we are back to walking "a highway of diamonds," exploring the events of Bob Dylan's career sixty years ago. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in October of 1962 and October of 2022. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Corrina Corrina" better: Bob Dylan, from the B-side of his first single, or the just recently departed Jerry Lee Lewis? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

“It could have been a last waltz,” Bill Flanagan wrote, “instead, it turned out to be rock & roll's greatest half time show." Thirty years ago, Sony Music hosted Columbia Records Celebrates the Music of Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden on October 16, 1992. A double-CD concert album and a concert film, both titled Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration were released to memorialize the event. This episode will memorialize the memorialization, contextualize the concert within the lineage of other great multiact, multiheaded concerts and festivals, and it will also strip bare some of the event’s mythologization. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan as it was in 1992 and today, including a brief clip of Dylan reading from his forthcoming THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG, an update on his current tour itinerary, and a special guest review of another much more recent Bob Dylan Tribute Concert that took place at Town Hall in New York City, this review written by our listener Jon Olson of Arlington. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you who did "When I Paint My Masterpiece" better live, Jerry Garcia and John Kahn or The Band (minus Robbie Robertson) with Richard Bell and Jim Weider on the stage of Madison Square Garden for Columbia Records Celebrates the Music of Bob Dylan? 

For past episodes featuring the music of the Columbia Records Celebrates the Music of Bob Dylan concert, look up the following episodes of HARD RAIN & SLOW TRAINS: BOB DYLAN & FELLOW TRAVELERS: 10/29/2020: “All Those Who’ve Sailed with Me: Bob Dylan & His Bands part 3,” 6/10/2021: “The Great Pretender: The Music of Chrissie Hynde,” 11/11/2021: “Bloomington,” and 11/25/2021: “Playing to the Big Crowds, Playing to the Cheap Seats: Bob Dylan & The Beatles part 2.” You might also like to listen to 10/8/2020: “The Rock Era” for some more context concerning multiact and multiheaded concerts and festivals.

Last Friday, September 30, 2022 was the 25th anniversary of the release of Time Out of Mind, an album whose artistic and commercial success proved an important contributor to Dylan’s continued reinvigoration and late career success, a success that has continued to this day. This episode celebrates that album with a consideration of its making, its distinctiveness, and, of course, through its music. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we update you on Dylan’s European tour itinerary, tell you who will be reading the audiobook version of Dylan's forthcoming THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG, and mark the passing of a powerful and distinctive songwriter and singer. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote for which version of “Mississippi,” as recorded for TIME OUT OF MIND, is better: The outtake from the 1996 Teatro recording sessions in Oxnard, California, or outtake #2 or #3 from Criteria Studios in Miami.

Please check out the Dylan.FM podcast over at the Freak Music Club: https://dylanfmc.castos.com. Craig Danuloff has put together a nice collection of essays celebrating the 25th anniversary of TIME OUT OF MIND and his work is a wonderful contribution to our understanding of Bob Dylan's masterpiece, now a quarter of a century old. I would like to again thank Mr. Danuloff for his permission to replay part of his interview with Scott Warmuth, a perennial friend to HARD RAIN & SLOW TRAINS: BOB DYLAN & FELLOW TRAVELERS.  

25 years ago Bob Dylan released an album whose artistic and commercial success proved an important contributor to his continued reinvigoration and late career success, a success that has continued to this day. This episode celebrates that album with a consideration of its making, its distinctiveness, and, of course, through its music. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we update you on Dylan’s European tour itinerary, remind you about a great Youtube Channel, and provide more information about both the SHADOW KINGDOM and T-Bone Burnett Ionic Originals recording sessions from 2021. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote for which version of “Can’t Wait” is better: The alternate version from the Teatro in Oxnard, California, the alternate version from Criteria Studios in Miami, or the album version.

Visit the pivotal developments of Bob Dylan's professional life in August and September of 1962 as we travel "A Highway of Diamonds" back 60 years ago. Dylan takes a trip back to Minnesota and, missing his girlfriend who was in Italy, calls up Dave Van Ronk in New York and tells John Cohen that he may never  return there without her. He legally changes his name to Bob Dylan, signs with Albert Grossman, plays parties for friends and joins the Carnegie Hall Hootenanny sixty years ago to the night of this episode's broadcast, where he unveils "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" to the world (he had debuted it before a small crowd at the Gaslight Cafe a few days earlier). A 60th anniversary is a diamond anniversary, so this week, and throughout the year, we will periodically take a trip on "a highway of diamonds," exploring the events of Bob Dylan's career sixty years ago. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in August & September of 1962 and September of 2022. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Tomorrow is a Long Time" better: Ian & Sylvia or The Seldom Scene? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

This episode continues a monthly, ten-part series celebrating the tenth anniversary of TEMPEST, featuring the sixth track on the album, "Scarlet Town." In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan, which includes a countdown (from 10) until  Dylan's first tour of Europe in 3 years begins in 10 days. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote this week to tell us who did the seventeenth-century traditional Scottish ballad "Barbara Allen"  better: the Everly Brothers or Bob Dylan? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

This episode continues a monthly, ten-part series celebrating the tenth anniversary of TEMPEST, featuring the fifth track on the album, "Pay in Blood." Given that this episode airs on September 8, 2022 and TEMPEST was released on September 10, 2012, this episode also includes some general remarks about the album on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its release. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan, which includes a reminder that Dylan's first tour of Europe in 3 years begins in 17 days. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote this week to tell us which is better: "Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart" or the song it turned into, "Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anyone Seen My Love?)"? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

This episode continues a monthly, ten-part series celebrating the tenth anniversary of TEMPEST, featuring the fourth track on the album, "Long and Wasted Years." In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan, which includes new shows added to Dylan's 2022 autumn tour of Europe; the appearance of the table of contents of Dylan's new book, THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG, online, including the 66 songs about which he will be writing; and the passing of Jerry Allison, the drummer of The Crickets. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote this week to tell us who did "Twist and Shout" better: The Top Notes, the Isley Brothers or The Beatles? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!