Released: Feb 2017

BACKGROUND:

TRACK BY TRACK:

A Simple Twist of Fate - One of the most atmospheric story-songs Dylan ever penned. The arrangement gains in intensity as the story unfolds. The lyrics are those Dylan used in most of his 690 odd concert performances of the song.

I Want You - I loved the first version of this on Blonde On Blonde. And then I heard the live version at Budokan, and was blown away by its intensity. So I slowed it right down, so you can hear the longing, and then added a swirling Hammond organ.

Make You Feel My Love - Arranged for three acoustic guitars, tenor-sax and not a piano in sight. Dylan’s most romantic ballad, delivered with all the tenderness at my command. Also features on my Atlantic Avenue album.

Where Are You Tonight? - A cri de coeur written when Dylan was travelling by train from the West Coast to the Arizona desert at a time when his marriage to Sara was beginning to fall apart. The arrangement starts soft and builds to an intense climax, with a duel between electric guitar and sax.

Girl From The North Country - One of the first truly autobiographical lovesongs Dylan wrote, about the girl he left behind in Minnesota when he went to New York. The treatment is simple, true to the original - just me and my finger-picking guitar.

Hazel - Is she late or is she never going to show up ? We all know that feeling. What I love about this song is how the melody is so upbeat and the words increasingly desperate. I had fun with the vocals.

Tomorrow is a Long Time - Dylan does longing very well. Many of the songs on this album are about not being in the right place at the right time. A simple arrangement again - just me and my guitar ...

Beyond the Horizon - You can almost feel the horse swaying beneath me as I pick my way through this delightful song. If the melody is familiar, it's because Dylan borrowed it from Red Sails in the Sunset.

To Ramona - One comes away from this song with a clear mental image of the girl Dylan must have first sung it for. A testament to his skill at lyrical evocation. The arrangement is simple: husky voice and the guitar fretted high.

If You See Her, Say Hello - Dylan returns to the theme he first explored with Girl From The North Country, asking a friend to look up an old lover. Only this time, she left him. And he never got over it. Devastating last line.

One Too Many Mornings - This is the very first Dylan song I absolutely fell in love with. I still play it in concerts and prefer this simpler fingerpicked treatment to the versions with The Band. This track is included from my Who Knows Where the Time Goes? album.

Love Minus Zero/No limit - Many think that the title presents two alternative names for the song. It's actually a mathematical formula. A tremendous portrait and homily to a clearly well-centered individual, arranged here for several guitars and a saxophone.

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright - This was the first song I ever sang in concert, at the tender age of 15. This live recording from the Cahors Folk Club in 2010, with Marcel Frenchie Dègre on the harmonica also features on my album of Ballads & Blues.

Corrina Corrina - According to his website, Bob Dylan has only played this ONCE in concert (in 1962!) It's still a good old traditional blues, though. Featuring Frenchie Dègre on the harmonica.