Customer Reviews

A Nod to Bob 2: An Artists Tribute to Bob Dylan on his 70th Birthday

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A well deserved 70th. birthday gift for Bob Dylan from the folks at Red House records. It features artists from their stable doing their take on Dylan songs- some quite well known, others not so. With Dylan, the choice is mind boggling when deciding what to cover.
This disc is the follow up to the wonderful original "Nod to Bob" done 10 years ago on his 60th. birthday. That was also done by Red House, and had some of the same performers as this disc.
Since Red House is basically a folk/Americana label, this disc comes from that direction. Nothing too heavy. It has some real legends- Spider John Koerner (Dylans old roomate in Mpls.)doing his usual funky romp on "Days of Forty Nine". Hot Tuna(Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, etc.) doing a rollicking "Mama,Let Me Lay it On You" with a great fiddle part.
It also has some newcomers like Meg Hutchinson doing a plaintive "Born in Time" and Danny Schmidt doing a beautiful reading of "Buckets of Rain".
It also features some of Red Houses' folk vets- like Cliff Eberhardt,John Gorka, and Ray Bonneville who deliver their usual great performances. Lets face it, with the choice of material to choose from in the vast Dylan song book, it's hard to go wrong.
I think this is a wonderful collection of some of Dylan's best done by some of today's best singer/songwriters/performers, who no doubt were all influenced by Mr. Bob himself. Highly reccommended.

The original "A Nod to Bob" album was released ten years ago to mark Bob Dylan's sixtieth birthday. Unlike most collections of Dylan covers, which mix and match a fairly tired list of covers by pop singers over the last 40 years, that album included what were, I think, all new recordings by a fairly significant set of contemporary folk singers. For many listeners I think it may have provided an introduction to artists they might not have been familiar with previously, using Dylan's music as a bridge. On that collection, I particularly liked Spider John Koerner and Dave Ray's recording of Delia, which had a lot of character.

Ten years later, we have a sequel to mark Dylan's 70th birthday. It includes covers by many of the same artists as last time -- Cliff Eberhardt, Eliza Gilkyson (a totally enjoyable live rendition of Jokerman), Guy Davis, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, and Spider John Koerner all come back for the second round. There's new blood too -- Danny Schmidt (who totally nails Buckets of Rain, a song I never cared for in Dylan's version or the often heard cover by Bette Midler), Hot Tuna, Jimmy LaFave, Meg Hutchinson, Peter Ostroushko, Pieta Brown, The Pines, Ray Bonneville, Robin & Linda Williams, and Storyhill, are all new to the sequel disc.

There's nothing radical here, but plenty of interesting and/or catchy renditions. Some dull ones too (Kaplansky's take on Every Grain of Sand is too similar to the original, I think), but that's what the fast-forward button is for.

Happy birthday, Bob.

Red House released 'A Nod to Bob' around Dylan's sixtieth birthday, and 'A Nod to Bob 2' on May 17, 2011, one week before his seventieth. The arrangements on the second volume reflect an alt-indie influence, but of course alt-indie music is itself influenced by the Beatles and Dylan (the #1 and #2 "greatest artists of all time" according to 'Rolling Stone'). In any case, the two volumes together begin to reflect the scope of Dylan's talent as a song-writer. (And, to be honest, many listeners will be glad that the 'Nods' do not reflect Bob's talent as a singer.) The real tribute to Dylan is the obscurity of many of the songs: The performers have listened to a LOT of Dylan, and in a number of cases the fresh arrangements and intense delivery here reflect a deep appreciation for some not-so-famous gems. Meg Hutchinson's "Born in Time" brings out the artistry and meaning of a song that is easily overlooked or forgotten. Pieta Brown does an amazing job with "Dirt Road Blues". Other stand-outs include "What Good Am I?" (The Pines), "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" (Storyhill), "The Days of 49" (Spider John Koerner), "Not Dark Yet" (Jimmy LeFave), and "Mozambique" (Peter Ostroushko). If you can name the albums where these songs first appeared, you are a pretty serious Dylan fan. Arguably, not one of them is the best song on its album, and not one of the albums would be among Dylan's top five. But you will want to hear them more than once. The Red House versions again make the case for Bob Dylan as the creative force who showed his own and succeeding generations of aspiring songwriters just what could be done within the popular song form.

While I liked all the versions on the first Nod to Bob, it didn't work well as an entire album, the tone was too similar across the songs. Not so here on Nod to Bob 2. Excellent versions, excellent singers. I like John Gorka's Just Like a Woman. He gets good passion going. I will also stand up for Kaplansky's Every Grain of Sand. It is one of Dylan's absolute best lyrics and addresses the depths of life in the Spirit without any fundamentalist stridency.

I love Bob Dylan, I know where most of these songs came from originally, so that's my bias.

I don't listen to these folk artists but they have done a nice set of tribute songs to Bob.
They have their own style that's for sure!

I discovered the first Nod to Bob collection 10 years ago and it's been a favorite ever since. Nod to Bob 2 is a wonderful reincarnation of that idea. Several of the artists appeared on the first CD (John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, Eliza Gilkyson, and Guy Davis), but there's a number of folks who weren't in the first collection: Robin and Linda Williams, Jimmy LaFave, Pieta Brown, Danny Schmidt, and Storyhill. And a mixture of familiar songs and some I didn't know after many, many years of listening to Dylan. Similiarly, some artists I'm very familiar with and some brand new to my ears. Worth the price for Jimmy LaFave's version of Not Dark Yet, or Gilkyson's Jokerman, Storyhill's Lay Down your Weary Tune, or Schmidt's Buckets of Rain. Impressive performances, and a reminder of what an amazing talent Bob Dylan possesses.

After stumbling upon the first "Nod to Bob" (10 years ago on Dylan's 60th birthday), I couldn't wait for him to age another decade so that another birthday celebration would be produced. What a tremendous disappointment!

The 60th was fun, full of surprises, and had lots of twists and clever adaptations. The newly released Nod to Bob2 is just old and tired, without a single cut which I would look forward to listening to again.

I bought this CD pre-release. It's like that old line from the movie, "Hey, you screwed up. You trusted us." Never again.

Tom