CMT Blog: Bob Dylan

Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks are making nice and teaming up for a public service announcement about the changing climate. Does that mean hell has frozen over?

OMG. Guess how CU and CC brk up? W/ a txt. So ttly not 4eva. Was it like c u l8tr, sry? Gtg. IDK, it just seems so sad IMO.

Before the Britneys and the Fergies, there was Bob Dylan. His influence on pop music and American culture has earned a special music citation Pulitzer Prize.

Although she wasn’t at a Nashville casting call for the Hannah Montana movie, Miley Cyrus was recently seen signing a fan’s arm so it could be tattooed. 

With a new album hitting stores tomorrow, James Otto is pitching for the Atlanta Braves, sort of. He can now be heard singing “The Braves Play Here.”

Country’s favorite songs are almost ready for bed. A new CD with lullaby instrumentals of some of country’s biggest hits will be available April 22.

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes you stumble across an album that’s so wise and well-crafted you feel there’s almost a moral duty to spread the word about it. That’s how it is with Robert Hazard’s Troubadour, a collection of original “folk” songs that brings to mind the earnestness of the young Bob Dylan and the dark rural poetry of such country music standards as “Long Black Veil,” “Miller’s Cave” and “Green Green Grass of Home.”

To the degree that Hazard is known at all outside his hometown of Philadelphia, it’s probably for having written the frothy Cyndi Lauper hit, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” You will find few traces of that kind of adolescent lightheartedness in Troubadour. For the most part, the songs are world-weary dispatches from a man who’s been around and has got to keep on moving. In the title cut, for instance, Hazard places himself in the company of lyrical wanderers Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. But it quickly becomes evident that he’s no longer animated by the youthful sense of adventure and promise they embodied in their music. He’s been out there too long, trying to strike a balance between freedom and road fatigue: “The spotlight’s a light bulb and the stage is a floor,” he sings. “If this place don’t like me, there’s ten thousand more.” Then, there’s the corrosive loneliness: “I miss someone dearly but need someone more / While the waitress cleaned up, I would wait by the door.”

Elsewhere, Hazard reflects on obsessive, poisonous love (”I Still Believe in You”), guilt (”Blood on My Hands”) and embracing one’s own private darkness (”Nobody but the Night”). It isn’t all gloom, however, not by a long shot. Hazard is absolutely jaunty in “My Lucky Hat,” deliriously smitten in “She Loves Me Too” and reassured by the abiding strength of human relationships in the majestic “Bound.” Released late last year on Rykodisc — and “discovered” last week by me — Troubadour sounds like a strong contender for a folk Grammy. And if that award eludes him, there’s ten thousand more.

Yeah, it’s good old American capitalism and supply-and-demand economics, but where do you draw the line on how much you’re willing to spend for a concert ticket? A case in point is Van Morrison’s March 13 concert in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. With a seating capacity of less than 2,400, the Ryman really is one of the best places in the world to experience a concert. And you expect to pay a premium price for the opportunity to see an artist perform in such an intimate setting, as opposed to the Enormo Dome. However, with peers such as Bob Dylan somehow managing to keep their tickets below the $100 threshold at the Ryman, I thought it was outrageous in 2006 when Morrison charged up to $125 for tickets to a show promoting his country album, Pay the Devil. This time around for Van, it’s $130 for the “cheap seats” — with prices topping out at $200.

Granted, the $200 price tag is in line with what some veteran rock acts are charging for tickets to arena shows, but then you get into the gray area of ticket brokers and scalpers. (Some would argue the two are the same.) For Morrison’s 2006 show, scalpers outside the Ryman were asking as much as $1,000 per ticket, although I never heard if there were any takers at that price.

Maybe Van Morrison actually has the right idea. Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks are two country artists who, to their absolute credit, have always tried to keep their ticket prices within reach of working class Americans. To the best of my knowledge, Chesney has never surpassed the $100 mark for primo seats to his all-day, all-star stadium shows. However, one ticket brokering firm recently confirmed that their clients paid an average of $161 for tickets to Chesney’s concerts in 2007. And that’s just an average. And the extra money goes to the ticket brokers — not the artists. So maybe Morrison figures he should take his fair share of what the ticket market will bear.

The scary part, though, is the thought that attending a concert will eventually become an elitist activity open only to those who have a limitless amount of money or available credit on their charge cards.

Continuing to be as unpredictable as ever, Willie Nelson’s next single is a song that was also a single release by the Dave Matthews Band. “Gravedigger” was written by Matthews and was put out as single and video off his 2003 album Some Devil.

Nelson’s version will be on his upcoming album, Moment of Forever, coming Jan. 29. It was co-produced by Kenny Chesney and veteran Nashville producer Buddy Cannon. The album includes the title song, which was written by Kristofferson, Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” Randy Newman’s “Louisiana” and three new Nelson compositions. Chesney duets with Nelson on the song “Worry B Gone.”

The lyrics to “Gravedigger” read in part:

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger

Interestingly, in the video for “Gravedigger,” Nelson portrays a hearse driver, a priest and a gravedigger.

See the video for Willie Nelson’s “Gravedigger.”

As we cruise into 2008, nearly every media outlet is offering a list — sometimes lots of lists — of the best and worst that the past year brought us.

The very first thing that 2007 brought, at least on CMT, was the New Year’s Day debut of Tim McGraw’s video, “Last Dollar (Fly Away).” The song’s genesis actually dates back five years to New Year’s Eve 2002, and since the change of the calendar is generally a time of reflection and taking stock, the history of “Last Dollar” is particularly worth revisiting.

Big Kenny Alphin, of Big & Rich, wrote it. As the story goes, he was in debt way over his ears, thanks to a solo recording career that hadn’t had the commercial success he’d anticipated. He was $140,000 in debt and had all of $200 in his pockets when he hit the blackjack tables in Las Vegas, hoping for some luck. He got it, but in a less-than-obvious manner. Big Kenny lost nearly all of his money, left the dealer a $20 tip and ended up with just one George Washington in his wallet.

Where’s the luck? Well, if nothing else, Big Kenny is an optimist. With that single dollar to his name, he laughed in the face of financial danger, saw his situation as one of freedom from possession and penned a reminder that when things are down-in-the-depths bad, they can only get better. It’s a perspective that’s been written about before by everyone from Bob Dylan (“Like a Rolling Stone”), John Lennon (“Imagine”) and the Atlanta Rhythm Section’s J.R. Cobb (author of Wynonna’s “Rock Bottom”).

For Big Kenny, that viewpoint has played out quite well. Big & Rich, with its unconventional blending of hard rock, funk, rap and mainstream country, became an unlikely success. He’s reaped some nice financial rewards in the process and shown an admirable sense of responsibility by giving back some of those earnings through his efforts in Darfur.

Ultimately, as you evaluate 2007 and peer into 2008, the lessons of “Last Dollar (Fly Away)” are excellent things to keep in mind. No matter what the last year brought, the next one could be entirely different. Whether your last 12 months were a huge success, a total disaster or something in between, tomorrow is indeed another day.

In celebration of Thanksgiving, I’ve made a short, music-related list of things I’m thankful for. My holiday would not be complete without these traditions.

1. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: It’s a tradition to watch this every year with my family. My sister and I are both band nerds and we love critiquing each marching band as they pass through Time’s Square. I wish Brad Paisley was performing “Online” with the Brentwood High School Marching Band during the ceremony. His CMA Awards show performance was one of my favorites.

2. Holiday Inn: Not the hotel chain but the classic musical movie with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. My family and I watch this movie every year as we digest our turkey dinner. I love Crosby’s performance of “I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For.” It’s sarcastically funny as he dines alone.

3. Willie Nelson’s Stardust: My mom always picks this album as a soundtrack for my family to dine to. Willie’s odd lyrical timing helps us pace ourselves during the eating extravaganza. Plus his versions of America’s Songbook are amazing.

4. Road trip music: There are three hours from Nashville to my family’s house in Memphis. Before I leave for my vacation, I program a playlist of songs I can sing along to in the privacy of my car. I’m sure I look completely ridiculous to truckers who pass me on Interstate 40 as I belt Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Justin Timberlake, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and the Beatles. By the way, Aretha is a great backup singer. I can’t program punk music anymore because its fast timing causes me to speed and I’m sure the Tennessee state troopers will be out issuing tickets to heavy-footed drivers like me.

5. Holiday movie releases: Most families take advantage of the great holiday sales after Thanksgiving but the rest of the Tingles and I are going to be living in a movie theatre after the holiday. My mom is dying to see Enchanted, featuring the Carrie Underwood song “Ever, Ever After.” I want to see the new Bob Dylan movie, I’m Not There, and the new Joe Strummer film, The Future Is Unwritten.

In the words of Crosby, “I haven’t got a great be yacht to sail from shore to shore, still I’ve got plenty to be thankful for.” Happy Thanksgiving, country music fans!

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is my favorite Bob Dylan tune, and the first one I latched onto when I really started getting into his music. The novelist William Gay wrote extensively about discovering Dylan for himself in Paste magazine last year, and during a recent words-and-music session at the Country Music Hall of Fame, he read the piece aloud in the Ford Theatre. I couldn’t help laughing out of nervousness, because I was constantly recognizing myself in his personal experience. And here’s why: If you gave me a choice between a song that seems to understand everything about me, or staying with somebody who personally hated the song, I’d probably choose the song every time.

In his thoroughly engaging essay, Gay confirmed what I had always suspected – if you tell your boyfriend or girlfriend that you can’t get enough of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” then you’re probably headed toward an inevitable breakup. One person may be in love with lyrics like, “I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind / You could have done better but I don’t mind /You just kinda wasted my precious time,” but the other person in the bed might not be so appreciative. Gay confessed that his girlfriend eventually cracked from hearing the song too many times, and she even went so far as to criticize Dylan’s voice. Uh oh. I am assuming she didn’t have to sit and wonder why he dropped her in favor of a folk singer he’d never even met.

I have a friend who is always quick to mock Dylan’s voice by making an exaggerated wheezing sound, and I admit that I’m not crazy about it these days either. However, those early albums must have made an indelible impression on me, because whenever I hear anybody else try to sing from his early catalog, I think, “Great song. Wish it was Dylan’s version.” Another of the authors in the roundtable, Silas House, read a passage from his novel, Clay’s Quilt, about a child sitting through a lesson in music from the women in his family. After sifting through their vinyl collection, one of the women openly complains that Dylan’s voice is almost too ragged to bear; the other woman gently replies that those imperfections make his voice so distinctive. I know which woman I agree with, and I don’t even have to think twice about it.

The biggest tour in the world is coming to Nashville. The dinosaurs are on their way. And I don’t mean The Eagles. I mean Walking with Dinosaurs: the Live Experience. Just after Bob Dylan/Elvis Costello at the Ryman, this is the show I have most looked forward to.

This is truly an epic-size tour. Fifteen life-size walking and bellowing animatronic dinosaurs will stalk through Nashville’s Sommet Center. The biggest of them is the 50-foot-tall Brachiosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is 45 feet long. The tour uses 27 tractor-trailer trucks and employs a crew of 68 people. The tour began in January in Sydney, played Australian dates through March and then began in North America.

This came about from the 1999 BBC-TV series, Walking with Dinosaurs, which was itself groundbreaking and watched by millions of people. Those dinosaurs were computer-generated, a process which was enormously expensive and complicated.

An Australian company decided to try building realistic, life-size dinosaurs and taking them on the road for an arena tour. The life-size creatures were built and “dinosaur drivers” learned how to operate them. Consider the cost. The movie Jurassic Park had about nine minutes of dinosaurs in it. The tour production of Walking with Dinosaurs runs around three hours. It’ll be in Nashville Oct. 17-21. The big screen videos I’ve seen of it and the accounts I’ve heard from friends who have seen this show tell me it’s well worth seeing. The script traces dinosaur development throughout the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods of the Mesozoic Era. And there’s one epic dinosaur battle.

I’ll tell you what. This is really about getting back to the roots.

Going into the Bob Dylan concert at the Ryman Auditorium this week, I had very high expectations. But being a fan, one should always expect the unexpected at a Dylan show.

I got to my seat in time to watch surprise opening act Elvis Costello perform an acoustic set. I’ve seen him before and I thought that his previous performance was rinky-dink but he blew my mind onstage before Dylan. He intimately performed “Veronica” and others wearing sparkling boots while he sipped from a white mug, making the large auditorium feel like a small coffeehouse.

Then Dylan took the stage. He looked more fragile than the time I last saw him. He wore a Western suit with a rhinestone-studded collar. When he strapped on his guitar, I was relieved because I heard he had carpal tunnel and would be playing behind a piano the entire night instead of rocking out on his Fender. He played fan favorites like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Desolation Row” and opened with “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” but, to me, they were unrecognizable. Between his usual inaudible lyrical croaks and the instrument’s random microphone feedbacks, his most familiar songs became foreign. Even his closer, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” sounded unfamiliar.

I felt like Dylan was going through the motions as the set progressed. I expected a show driven by his punk attitude, while filled with a sincerity only a venue like the Ryman could capture. I was disappointed until Jack White from the White Stripes showed up. I was on the balcony near the soundboards to get a better look at Bob while he played electric keyboard. Jack came out with his back to the audience fixing his guitar strap on his shoulder before turning. Jack didn’t have to show his face for me to know who he was. Then I flipped out, “IT’S JACK WHITE! IT’S JACK WHITE!”

Bob seemed happy to see him too because he immediately strapped on his guitar again and grinned, as if playing with Jack made him feel 30 years younger. Jack’s appearance breathed new life into the show as they wailed together on “Meet Me in the Morning.” I felt like I was witnessing an encore performance of The Last Waltz and it left me incapacitated for the rest of the show. In the end, I couldn’t believe the night I had. Thinking about it still gives me chills.

The upcoming (Sept. 18) release of two DVDs of performances from The Johnny Cash TV Show contains an astonishing array of artists and styles and influences. The DVDs contains no less than 66 performances. Artists include Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Waylon Jennings, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, George Jones, James Taylor, Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Linda Ronstadt, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Roy Orbison, Mother Maybelle Carter, June Carter Cash, Marty Robbins and more. In many cases, this was each artist’s debut appearance on network TV – and this was back when the big three networks controlled TV, in 1969-71.

Something else that’s astonishing to realize now in retrospect is that Cash ended each show with a gospel song and often did more than one on each show. I’m sure ABC was not terribly pleased with its role in spreading Southern gospel, but it did. Can you imagine that happening today? I think it should. What say you?