New cover: Ian Gillan

Gillan's Inn, the new album by Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame, closes with a cover of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight performed with Joe Elliott.
Thanks to Michael Tearson for the tip.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

2 more Polish translations

Sylwek Szweda has added two more songs to his list of Polish translations:
#55. Odchodzę Odchodzę Odszedłem (Going Going Gone)
#56. Koło Ognia (This Wheel's On Fire)
Downloads available as mp3 or wmv. See his list HERE.
These new additions will be added to Dylan Covers On-Line at next first-of-month update.

NEW ALBUM: Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings

Now added to Dylan Cover Albums is the oft-delayed Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings from Doghouse Records, released in the U.S. May 9.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca




Tracklist:
Simple Twist Of Fate - The Honorary Title
All Along The Watchtower - P.O.S.
Lay Lady Lay - Jim Ward
Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You - Limbeck
My Back Pages - Down To Earth Approach
Abandoned Love - David Moore
If Not For You - Read Yellow
I Threw It All Away - Rachel Cantu
The Man In Me - Say Anything
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Gatsby's American Dream
Sign On The Window - Apollo Sunshine
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met) - Panama Jerk
Sara - The Casual Lean

Dylan Title Tracks updated with 1 new sleeve

Just one new sleeve added to Dylan Title Tracks this week, this 1964 Japanese Peter Paul & Mary EP with The Times They Are A-Changin'.
Thanks to Ronald Born

NEW CD: Hear This Robert Zimmerman

Hear This Robert Zimmerman: A Birthday Tribute will be issued with the May 2006 German edition of Rolling Stone magazine. The Rolling Stone Rare Trax #45 CD has 10 previously available tracks: 9 covers plus Loudon Wainwright III's Talking New Bob Dylan.
The CD has been added to
Dylan Cover Albums.
Thanks to H.P. Bushoff for the tip.

Tracklist:
Talking New Bob Dylan - Loudon Wainwright III
Like A Rolling Stone - Drive-By Truckers
This Wheel's On Fire - Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity
Ballad Of A Thin Man - Willard Grant Conspiracy
Nobody 'Cept You - 16 Horsepower
Spanish Harlem Incident - Chris Whitley
Highway 61 Revisited - Dave Alvin
Blind Willie McTell - Dream Syndicate
Masters Of War - The Long Ryders
Wicked Messenger - Patti Smith

Crash On The Levee at Midnight Ramble

A medley of Crash On The Levee and W.S. Walcott performed by Jimmy Vivino and Levon Helm, recorded at the 1/14/06 Midnight Ramble, is available as a free download (mp3 or WMA) at levonhelm.com (bottom of page)
Thanks to Ole Lien for the tip

3 new Polish translations

Sylwek Szweda has added three more mp3s to his list of Polish translations:
• 4Ty Raz Wokoło (4th Time Around)
• Pozytywnie 4Ta Ulica (Positively 4th Street)
• Wielka Królowa Eskimosów (Mighty Quinn)
His list now includes 54 translations, most with mp3s available. See it HERE.
These new additions will be added to Dylan Covers On-Line at next first-of-month update.

16th annual Bob Dylan Festival

Andy Hill and Renee Safier will be hosting their 16th annual Bob Dylan Festival at Chevron Park in El Segundo, California on May 7, 2006.
As many as 50 special musical guests are expected to perform interpretations of Bob Dylan material that cover a broad spectrum of musical styles. And what goes on in the audience has become almost as much of a spectacle as what happens on stage – as many crowd members come elaborately dressed as characters or scenes from various Bob Dylan songs.
For more information visit www.andyandrenee.com.
Andy & Renee's 2001 album of Dylan covers, It Takes A Lot To Laugh, is listed in Dylan Cover Albums.

NEW ALBUM: Bob Dylan Uncovered

To be released in early May by Paradiddle Records is
Bob Dylan Uncovered, a 13 song tribute performed by some of Long Island, NY's top performing artists.
Offer details, audio samples, more info and pre-orders at
Paradiddle Records.
NOTE: CD has now been added to Dylan Cover Albums.



Tracklist:
If You Gotta Go, Go Now - Cadillac Moon
If You See Her Say Hello - Russ Seeger
Tangled Up In Blue - The Walkers
One Too Many Mornings - Caroline Doctorow
Girl From The North Country - Drew Olsen
Masters Of War - Denise Donohue
Ring Them Bells - Marc Andrew
Down Along The Cove - The Lone Sharks
Temporary Like Achilles - The Don Olsen Gang
One More Cup Of Coffee - Iridesense
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - The Little Wilson Band
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) - Codiak
Boots Of Spanish Leather - Johnny Cuomo

New cover: Ronnie Drew & Eleanor Shanley

Ireland's Ronnie Drew and Eleanor Shanley have recorded another album and Dylan cover together. Their new CD El Amor De Mi Vida includes Bob's Farewell. On their 2000 CD A Couple More Years, the duo covered Restless Farewell and Boots of Spanish Leather.
More info about the new release HERE.

Drew's group The Dubliners had previously covered Boots of Spanish Leather, with Shanley's band Da Danann guesting, on their 1993 album 30 Years A-Greying. Da Danann had covered Restless Farewell on their 1991 album 1/2 Set in Harlem, and Eleanor Shanley covered One Too Many Mornings on her self-titled 1995 solo album.

Dylan Title Tracks updated with 6 new sleeves

Dylan Title Tracks has been updated with 6 new sleeves, including another sleeve featuring Maggie Thatcher! (see April 1) Also this 1963 Japanese Peter Paul & Mary Blowin' In The Wind sleeve and 4 others.
Thanks to Ronald Born & H.P. Bushoff for this week's additions.

Rare Judy Collins cover reissued

Judy Collins' rare 1965 single-only cover of I'll Keep It With Mine has been reissued on the CD compilation Great Lost Elektra Singles, Volume 1. To my knowledge, this is the first album appearance of the track. The short 10 track collection also includes the 2 sides of the pre-Byrds single by The Beefeaters.
Thanks to Dirk Krah for the tip.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

New in the DylanCover.com collection: The Muskrats

Walkin' Down The Line
The Muskrats
various artists:
Devouring Our Roots: San Francisco's New-Folk Uprising
(A benefit for Food Not Bombs)
1989; Subterranean SUB 65-2 (CD)

This benefit album presents 6 bands performing 2 songs each. Bay area band The Muskrats had released two albums in the mid '80s, before contributing two tracks to this 1989 LP and CD. The sound of Walkin' Down The Line can be described as the Brothers Four crossed with a garage band!
Used copies available from: amazon.com

Duluth Does Dylan Revisited

Officially added to Dylan Cover Albums is Duluth Does Dylan Revisited, a sequel to the 2000 CD Duluth Does Dylan. The CD is now available for ordering from CD Baby.

Blind Willie McTell - Charlie Parr
Mr. Tambourine Man - Cloud Cult
Oxford Town - The State Champs
When The Ship Comes In - Ol' Yeller
Buckets of Rain - Sara Softich
The Man In Me - No Wait Wait
Masters Of War - Hattie Peterson
Walkin' Down the Line - Little Black Books
Lay Lady, Lay - Boy Girl Boy Girl
High Water - Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Silvio - Eric Koskinen
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - Wet Dog
Shelter From the Storm - Trampled by Turtles
To Ramona - Jerree Small
All The Tired Horses - Retribution Gospel Choir

Collector's Guides updates

New items added to Collector's Guides to Dylan Covers:

JOHNNY CASH:
1964 Live Don't Think Twice on Nashville at Newport v/a CD

MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND:
Angel Station in Moscow with Shelter From The Storm, Father of Day & Mighty Quinn live in 2000

TIM O'BRIEN with Rhonda Vincent:
Sing Along With Putumayo chidren's music v/a CD with Man Gave Names To All The Animals

BLUES:
• 1970 single Lay Lady Lay by Roy Gaines (see previous post)
• 2003 CD Live From Austin Texas by Susan Tedeschi with Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
• 2005 CD Hope and Desire by Susan Tedeschi with Lord Protect My Child

JAZZ:
• 1966 LP On Broadway by Eddie Cano & Nino Tempo with Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
• 2004 CD Scarlet Mark by NYC jazz vocalist Liza Lee with Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
• 2003 CD You Draw The Line by UK jazz vocalist Christine Tobin with All I Really Want To Do
• 2004 CD Romance and Revolution by UK jazz vocalist Christine Tobin with Shelter From The Storm

New in the DylanCover.com collection: Roy Gaines

Lay Lady Lay
Roy Gaines
single (b/w Make It Easy)
1970; Bell B-915 (7")

Electric bluesman Roy Gaines was a protege of the legendary T-Bone Walker, but this single is more R&B than traditional Blues.

New cover: Rainer Maria

Catastrophe Keeps Us Together, the new album by the Madison, Wisconsin emo trio Rainer Maria, closes with a cover of I'll Keep It With Mine.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.ca

Mary Lee's Downloads

Two downloads available at the Mary Lee's Corvette website maryleescorvette.com:
Meet Me In The Morning, Live @ Schuba's (music page) and
Most Of The Time, Mary Lee Kortes solo from a BBC Scotland broadcast (main page.)
Also: Mary Lee's Corvette's August 31, 2002 appearance in support of Blood On The Tracks on Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight, is once again available as a streaming archive on the WFUV.org website (search for Mary Lee in the audio archives.) A stripped down, trio version of MLC performed 7 songs from Blood On The Tracks live on-air during the broadcast.
Mary Lee's Corvette's new self-released album Love, Loss & Lunacy is due to be released April 26. (no Dylan covers)
Mary Lee's Corvette performed the entire Blood On The Tracks in 2001, later released on CD. See it HERE.

Dylan Title Tracks updated with 12 new sleeves

Dylan Title Tracks has been updated with 12 new sleeves, including:
• Four rare and strange Thai sleeves, including this Trini Lopez EP with Blowin' In The Wind + 3 other songs from The Folk Album
• more Peter Paul & Mary EP's, including this one from Australia with Quit Your Low Down Ways
• the new Totta & Wiehe CD-single Du Får Hålla Dej Där (You Ain't Going Nowhere) b/w Flykten (Drifter's Escape).
• I've also added two sleeves of Tom Petty's Jammin' Me, I don't consider this a Dylan cover but have included it for those who do.
There are now 1,155 records dispayed in Dylan Title Tracks
Thanks to Ronald Born, H.P. Bushoff and Ole Lien for this week's additions.

New cover: Widespread Panic

Earth To America, the upcoming studio album by Widespread Panic, will include a cover of Solid Rock. The band played the song live throughout much of 2005, and several versions available from bt.etree.org are listed in the Dylan Covers DataBase. The new album is due to be released June 13.

When You Gonna Download?

There is a great 13+ minute cover of When You Gonna Wake Up by Little Feat (with Sam Bush & Vince Herman guesting) available at Live Music Archive. The band also covers It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, one of their live staples. Recorded on the beach during the Fourth Annual Little Feat Fan Excursion to Jamaica 1/28/06.

New in the DylanCover.com collection: T. Duggins

Boots of Spanish Leather
T. Duggins
Undone
2006; Thick THK107 (CD)

T. Duggins is Tony Duggins, frontman of the Chicago celtic-punk band The Tossers. On this solo album released earlier this year, Duggins duets with Meaghan Yeates on a celtic tinged Boots of Spanish Leather. The contrast of Duggins raspy voice singing the part of the traveller against Yeates' smooth voice works well to accentuate the tension between the characters in the song.
The Tossers had covered Seven Curses on their 2001 EP The First League Out From Land.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

New cover: Christy Moore - Live

Due for release next week is Christy Moore's new double CD Live from Dublin 2006 with a live version of Hattie Carroll. A studio recording of the song appeared on Moore's 2005 album Burning Times.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

Two Re-Covers

The new Willard Grant Conspiracy album Let It Roll includes their cover of Ballad Of A Thin Man, previously available on last years Uncut Magazine collection Highway 61 Revisited Revisited.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de /

The cover of It's All Over Now, Baby Blue by the German band Element of Crime, previously available only on the 2005 NVA soundtrack album, is now available on their Strassenbahn des Todes 4-track CD-single. NVA is listed in the Dylan Covers on Soundtracks Collector's Guide.
Available from: amazon.co.uk / amazon.de

Thanks to Dirk Krah for these tips

WELCOME

Welcome to the Blog in Plain D. For the non-Dylan world, I should explain the title is adapted from Bob Dylan's song Ballad in Plain D, from his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. Sure, there are better Dylan puns: Bloggin' in the Wind, Blog On The Tracks, Bloggin' On Heaven's Door, Blog on Blog, The Times They Are A-Bloggin', Tangled Up In Blog, etc., etc. But all of these are already in use, for Blogs with no Dylan content. Another example of how the language has been influenced by Bob Dylan's impact on popular culture. Friends lobbied hard for Blog Is Just a Four Letter Word... I like it, but it's too wordy.

So Blog in Plain D it is. Think of it as D for Dylan, or D for Dave (me)!

In this Blog you will find news, information and miscellaneous ramblings about Dylan covers, defined as the songs of Bob Dylan as performed by others. For the uninitiated, or if you have surfed to this page by chance or error, the collecting of Dylan covers is a fascinating little corner of music collecting. There is a seemingly endless stream of Dylan covers, both newly discovered older recordings and new releases. Dylan songs have been covered in almost every genre and style of music, by artists from around the world both well-known and unknown, and have been translated and performed in over 30 languages. They also range from the truly great to the unbelievably bad... but all - well, most - are worth having to the true collector!

To those who have some bias against Dylan covers - the "only Dylan should sing Dylan" faction - I'm not going to try and explain or justify it, except to say you are missing the point and you are in the wrong Blog! Thanks for visiting. ;)

Please feel free to comment on this (or any Blog in Plain D posting) by clicking "comments" at the bottom of any post. No registration is required, you can post anonymously if you wish. You can also contact me via e-mail using the link at top of the sidebar on the right.

History

I'm Dave Plentus, from the USofA. I've been a record collector for many years and an avid Dylan covers collector for much of that time. In 1999, mostly to gain some trade contacts and establish some presence on the internet, I decided to start a website featuring my Dylan tribute albums, naively thinking it was a good collection. A that time I didn't even know if there were other collectors out there. I soon discovered, thanks to contacts from around the world, that my little collection was far from complete. With their help and contributions, that website and associated sites have expanded to over 220 pages encompassing all aspects of Dylan cover collecting.

• Dylan Cover Albums: Initially launched on January 30, 1999, and moved to the dylancoveralbums.com domain in November 2000, Dylan Cover Albums is a visual discography of albums featuring the songs of Bob Dylan as performed by others. This site now lists well over 350 tribute and compilation albums in Vocal, Instrumental, Translations, Shared, Various Artists, E.P.s, and Near Misses categories, as well as numerous secondary pages. Dylan Cover Albums has been mentioned in the national media, linked to by many other Dylan-related and artist's websites, and thanked or mentioned in several CD releases around the world.

• Dylan Title Tracks: In August 2000, by popular demand, I added Dylan Title Tracks, a gallery of picture sleeves and albums with a Dylan song as their title track, later expanded to include any record sleeve with a Dylan title displayed. Title Tracks now displays over 1,100 records, almost all supplied by contributors in the collector community.

• Dylan Covers On-Line: Somewhere along the line, I started a page of Dylan Covers On-Line, a list of links to Dylan covers available for download around the web from artist or label sites. Covers from paysites or archive sites are not included on this list. Currently there are over 530 covers listed, the total fluctuates as new links are added and old links are lost. Note that none of these dowloads are hosted by DylanCover.com, Dylan Covers On-Line provides links to where they can be found.

• Dylan Covers Collector's Guides: In 2004 I launched Collector's Guides, a series of illustrated guides to the Dylan covers of over 100 artists, plus several genre guides such as Blues, Bluegrass, Celebrities, Country, Jazz, Reggae and Soundtracks.

• Dylan Covers DataBase: Up to this point none of my pages attempted a complete list of Dylan covers, so in late 2004 I launched the Dylan Covers DataBase, a comprehensive, all-inclusive and hopefully error free list of Dylan covers. This is a never-ending task, as old covers are constantly being discovered and new music is always being released. Currently, almost 15,000 Dylan covers are included in the DataBase, over 7,000 illustrated, with an average of several hundred added each month.

• Blog in Plain D: In April 2006 I launched this Blog in Plain D as a new source of information, tying together all 5 of the sites described above, with some added features unique to the Blog.

• DylanCover.com: Portal page unifying all 6 of these sites under the domain DylanCover.com. With all the additions over the years, Dylan Cover Albums was no longer an apt description of all the resources available. (Note no "s": DylanCover.com not DylanCovers.com)

Direct links to these various websites are listed in the Links section of the right sidebar. Or you can bookmark and/or start at DylanCover.com.

Much of the content on all these pages have come from world wide contributors. My thanks to all those who have contributed to the DylanCover.com websites over the years. You know who you are! If you have any comments, suggestions, news or other content to submit for consideration, please contact me via the e-mail link in the right column sidebar, or just click the "comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Blog in Plain D

A few words about Blogs. If they're new to you, think of them as on-line newsletters or journals. Some mistakenly compare them to newsgroups, forums or chat rooms, but they are not the same. On a Blog, only the moderator (me) can create a new post (news item.) Readers have the ability to comment or respond to posts, simple click "comments" below each post and type your message. For now, I have left the comment section unmoderated and open to all, however if spam or nuisance comments become a problem I will have to add some restrictions.

Note that I have been posting to Blog in Plain D for a few weeks before going live, so scroll down and see what you've missed. This will give you an idea of what will be available here in the future. The last 20 posts appear on the main page, older links can be accessed via the monthly "archive" links near the bottom of the right column sidebar.

Also in the sidebar are links to the webpages described above, links to various other Dylan-related sites, and an e-mail link.

Support

You can help support DylanCover.com by using the amazon links included with some posts of new releases and new additions, or the links in the right column sidebar, or those throughout the websites. When you enter these shopping websites through my links, DylanCover.com earns a commission on any purchase made during those shopping sessions, it doesn't have to be the item featured. So even if you're buying books or a snowblower (as someone did last winter - thanks, whoever you are!) please use an extra click and enter amazon or GEMM through my links. The earnings help defray the costs of maintaining DylanCover.com including domain registration & web hosting.

This Welcome page will remain available via a link on the sidebar.

Texas Music Awards 2006

The recently announced 4th annual Texas Music Awards included several Dylan-cover related items of interest:

Recipient of the "Rising Star Award" was Clay DuBose, whose album These Days included a nice cover of I Threw It All Away featuring piano by Garth Hudson of The Band.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

Named "Singer/Songwriter Of The Year" was Hayes Carll, who frequently plays When I Paint My Masterpiece in his live shows. Several downloadable performances can be found listed in the Dylan Covers DataBase.


One of the nominees for "Record Of The Year" was the reggae-fied Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Shy Blakeman and the Whiskey Fever Band. The single from their album The Southern Roots Revival reached #9 on the Texas Music charts.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

DylanCovers On-Line update updated

Due to a large number of deleted links, I have made a second update to Dylan Covers On-Line. March additions are still marked as new, plus there are a few newer additions and link changes. Over 40 covers no longer available on-line were deleted from the list.
Thanks to Michael Tearson for the updates.

The Bob (Dylan + Marley) Tribute Album

Added to the Downloaded Albums page of Dylan Cover Albums is The Bob Tribute Album, a new download-only album by The Flaming Bulldogs. The album pays tribute to both Bobs - Dylan & Marley - with 5 Dylan covers and 4 Marley covers. The Dylan covers:
Like a Rolling Stone
All Along the Watchtower
Knockin on Heaven's Door
Lay Lady Lay
Subterranean Homesick Blues
The Marley covers: Redemption Song, Could You Be Loved, I Shot the Sheriff, Buffalo Soldier.
Available from on-line paysites such as eMusic and iTunes. To my knowledge the album is only available via these download services. If evidence surfaces that it is available as a retail CD, it will be moved to the Shared page of Dylan Cover Albums.
Thanks to Anton Bohnen & Michael Tearson.

New cover: Robert Love

Ghost Flight, the new solo album by Robert Love, frontman of the UK band Alabama 3, includes a cover of Tryin' To Get To Heaven. Already released in the UK, due April 7 in US.
Available from: amazon.com / amazon.co.uk / amazon.de / amazon.ca

Dylan Title Tracks updated with 9 new sleeves

Dylan Title Tracks has been updated with 9 new sleeves, including two rare Norwegian sleeves and this 1986 local benefit single of Maggie's Farm by the Liverpool band The Lloyd Collection.
Thanks to H.P. Bushoff and Ole Lien for this week's additions.

First-of-month Updates

The Dylan Covers DataBase has been updated, adding 319 new covers for a new total of 14,874. Also many new images and links were added.
Click here to show New Additions Only.
Thanks to Michael Tearson for his list of covers from iTunes that led to many new CD discoveries, and to Alan Cottrell for some finds at SoundClick.

Dylan Covers On-Line has been updated to it's new format. Recent additions include more Polish translations by Sylwek Szweda, and more live covers by the Italian band The Beards. The Covers On-Line list will now only be updated on the first of each month.

April (and last) Feature

Since January 2000, at first bi-weekly and then monthly, I have presented on my Feature page some album or item of interest that did not qualify for inclusion elsewhere on the DylanCover.com webpages.
The Feature page did not attract much traffic, so it is being discontinued. Interesting albums of the type that might have appeared there will be presented on the Blog in Plain D occasionally, but not on a regular monthly basis. The Feature Archive of past Features January 2000 thru April 2006 will remain available.

---

T.J. Johnson
Hustler's Paradise
Loco Records LOCOCD009 (UK, 2001)

Last month Wilko, this month another Johnson from the UK, pianist T.J. Johnson. His style is best described in the liner notes of this 2001 CD: "a subtle but highly infectious mix of swing, blues, soul and saloon songs. It has a powerful, swinging piano lead rhythm with soulful, bluesy vocals. If you like the blues you'll love this album, it stamps T.J.'s unique style on many of the classics, from Dylan to Cash." Included are three Dylan songs: To Be Alone With You, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, and Don't Think Twice. Other songs on the very enjoyable album include Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, three songs written or co-written by Mac Rebennak (Dr. John): New York City Blues, Such A Night, and Better World Somewhere, and the blues classic Times Getting Tougher Than Tough. There is also a live version of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight on T.J.'s 2003 CD "Live in Germany," recorded with his band Bourbon Kick. It's not easy to find Johnson's CDs, I suggest starting at his website www.tjjohnson.co.uk