Harpswell Hootenanny 2011, Part 2-- Dylan and the Band

A couple years ago, I was taking a coffee break from my professorly duties in North Grafton, and was over at the Newbury Comics store in Shrewsbury, MA.  I bought a copy of Bob Dylan's just released official Bootleg Series Vol. 5 release of  the "Rolling Thunder Revue, Live 1975".  Popped it into the car's CD player, waited out those first delicious, silent, anticipatory moments, and then got flat-out walloped by the first cut, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You".  Nearly plowed into several cars in the "Stah Mahket" lot, I did!  It's a totally different beast from the crooning, laid-back "Nashville Skyline" original--  an amped-up, rip-roarin' version, supplying that good ol' "Ya Ya Ya!!!  Rock Rock Rock!!" adrenaline charge in spades.  In the back of my mind I thought "Hmmmm.... Maybe we can rip this off someday?....".   Well, that day is here!  Or, I should say, it was here at the end of March.  "Tonight..." was the first song we recorded from this March's Harpswell Hootenanny and, after not being sure if the organization was really going to gel, we looked around when we'd finished a run-through and breathed a collective "Hell yeah-- Something just happened there!"

And what better to pair that with than a classic from the "Basement Tapes" sessions of Bob and the Band?  We ran through this version on  Sunday, after Roggie had already decamped for home and we'd devolved into 3-chord garage slop-rockers.  After sometimes getting bogged down, as will happen, with take after take of some long and/or tricky and/or demanding song or other, there's nothing like a good dollop of rock n' roll to clear the old pipes and put a charge back in your ticker.wo

May have some more pics for your viewing pleasure, and perhaps a video or two.  For now, git on out there and enjoy some fine long weekend action!

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You:

Paul B- Wurlitzer; Rog- lead gtr/ harmony voc; Dillo- bass; Road- drums; JK- rhythm gtr, voc, pedal steel, organ

Odds and Ends:

Paul B and Dillo- guitars; Road- drums; JK- bass, keys, voc