The Dylantantes – Details, episodes & analysis

Christopher Vanni is the author of two Substacks, one about Bob Dylan and one on Gene Clark, he's an advisor for the Bob Dylan Book Club—It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Reading—and he's the creator of a Bob Dylan Quiz that can be found on YouTube and in his feed on X. He is also passionate about golf, classic films, and history.

Check out Christopher’s work using these links:

Christopher Vanni (@Vanni621) / X (twitter.com) 

"The world don't need any more [blogs]" - Bob Dylan | Christopher Vanni | Substack

The Fabulous Exploration of Gene Clark | Christopher Vanni | Substack

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Reading): A Bob Dylan Book Club

Bob Dylan Quiz (youtube.com)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

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The 1974 album Planet Waves marked a series of firsts for Bob Dylan. It was his first official album with The Band. It was his first record not on the Columbia label. And it was, believe it or not, his first No. 1 album.

The music represents, if not a return to form, a reset after the release of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and the Columbia-compiled revenge album called simply Dylan. Compositionally, it’s a musical way station between 1970’s New Morning and 1975’s Blood on the Tracks.

The songs feel personal and even, at times, intimate. And the influence of The Band on the music is unmistakable—particularly Robbie Robertson’s always superb lead guitar and Garth Hudson’s meandering organ, which constantly threatens to explode the arrangements yet paradoxically is what holds them together. Dylan’s harmonica is pretty special too.

The album’s opener, “On a Night Like This,” is a jaunty, accordion-driven love song. The lyrics are simple, rhyming “night like this” with “touch of bliss” for instance. It stands in contrast to the magisterial cast iron song that follows: “Going, Going, Gone,” with its heavy guitar work and heavier lyrics speaking of “the top of the end.” And that song in turn gives way to the outright jocularity of “Tough Mama” with her “meat shaking on her bones,” which leads into the torch ballad, “Hazel.”

Don’t worry. I’m not going to catalog the album’s 10 songs and 11 tracks here. But it’s worth noting that discrepancy: 10 songs but 11 tracks.

That’s because there are two versions of “Forever Young,” the most famous song on the album and a perennial favorite. One is the anthemic hymn we are most familiar with, which closes side one of the vinyl album. Side two opens with the same song done as a country rock honky-tonk. This song, by the way, was quoted by Howard Cosell when Muhammed Ali defeated Leon Spinks in 1978: “It occurs to us that Bob Dylan struck the proper note in his great song ‘Forever Young’: ‘May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift, may you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift.’” In 1980 Cosell reprised with, “Even Muhammed Ali cannot be forever young. His hands are no longer busy, his feet no longer swift.”

Planet Waves probably lands on few fans’ lists of Dylan’s top ten, but it still likely occupies a special place in their playlist of albums. It’s highly listenable, offering a variety of song genres—from rock to ditty. There’s a darkness mixed in with the joy—for instance, the grave “Dirge” is sandwiched between the rollicking version of “Forever Young” and the loveliness of “You Angel You.”

I first found the album when I was in college in the early 80s, and I’ve loved it ever since. Again, not because it’s such an objectively great album but because it feels great.

• Rob “Rockin’ Rob” Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University.  He's currently at work on a book about Dylan's album John Wesley Harding.
• Erin Callahan lives in the Houston, Texas, area where she teaches English at San Jacinto College. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.
• Court Carney is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he teaches cour...

You may know Dan Brown as the author of the bestseller The DaVinci Code, but you’ve got the wrong guy. This Dan Brown was born in Tarrytown N.Y, and after a stint in the United States Air Force he moved to New City, NY, entered into a career in the restaurant industry. For the last  15 years, he has been owner of the Wherehouse Restaurant in Newburgh, NY.

His lifelong  passion for music has resulted in The Wherehouse being a hub for young  local musicians to perform as well as network. The decor is also reflective of the passionate musical journey he has taken. And though he is a fan of many bands and performers, Bob Dylan stands above the crowd not only as a songwriter but most important as a storyteller. On more tidbit: the Wherehouse serves a drink called “Blood on the Tracks,” which features Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door whiskey.

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

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We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

Bob Dylan’s 15th, 16th, and 17th studio albums, Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire, had been solid successes when he released Street-Legal in 1978. The album was not universally well received by critics although it was a commercial success.

There is an Extended Version of this episode available on FM+. Details below.

The band was mostly drawn from the large ensemble performing during Dylan’s Japanese and Australian tours and notably included a chorus consisting of Dylan’s future wife Carolyn Dennis, veteran singer Jo Ann Harris, and Helena Sprigs, who was all of 17 at the time. He would continue to record and tour with a chorus through much of the eighties. The recording sessions were reportedly sloppy, being held in Dylan’s rehearsal space called Rundown Studios using mobile equipment on a truck. The resulting sonics from the original mix were less than stellar, which may be why the album had a rough reputation. The saxophone bits sound somewhat dated now, but they still work.

M$B Roundtable Panelists:

• Rob “Rockin’ Rob” Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University.  He's currently at work on a book about Dylan's album John Wesley Harding.
• Erin Callahan lives in the Houston, Texas, area where she teaches English at San Jacinto College. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.
• Graley Herren is an English professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he regularly teaches a first-year seminar on Bob Dylan. He is author of the book Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, and he has a Substack newsletter devoted to Dylan called Shadow Chasing.
• Jim Salvucci is the founder and keeper of The Dylantantes.

Let us know what you think!

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

EXTENDED EDITIONS

To hear the Extended and Bonus Episodes of our shows:

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FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

Bob Dylan’s 31st studio album, “Love and Theft,” was released on September 11, 2001. The album’s lyrics are among the first to be heavily researched for references to and lifts from other works, and there are many—perhaps most notably some lines from Japanese true crime writer Junichi Saga’s Confessions of a Yakuza. The songs are rich with characters—men and women, real and fanciful—and events— as devastating as a flood and as benign as the sound of fornication in the room next door. And there is humor, including some hardcore dad jokes.

There is an Extended Version of this episode available on FM+. Details below.

Sonically the album is as eclectic as any Dylan has released, spanning such genres as rockabilly, old-timey torch ballads, and some of the most hard-driving blues Dylan has ever produced.

M$B Roundtable Panelists:

• Rob “Rockin’ Rob” Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University.  He's currently at work on a book about Dylan's album John Wesley Harding.
• Nina Goss is Editor of or contributor to the volumes Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the 21st Century and Dylan at Play. She is a contributor to various anthologies and presented at the first World of Bob Dylan conference (2019), and Dylan and the Beats conference in Tulsa (2022). She teaches at Fordham University.
• Court Carney is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he teaches courses on Black history and cultural history. He is finishing a book manuscript on the public memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
• Erin Callahan lives in the Houston, Texas, area where she teaches English at San Jacinto College. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.
• Graley Herren is an English professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he regularly teaches a first-year seminar on Bob Dylan. He is author of the book Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, and he has a Substack newsletter devoted to Dylan called Shadow Chasing.
• Jim Salvucci is the founder and keeper of The Dylantantes.

Let us know what you think!

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

EXTENDED EDITIONS

To hear the Extended and Bonus Episodes of our shows:

• Subscribe to FM+ : Click the subscribe button in Apple Podcasts or sign up here. (One subscription covers all our network podcasts for one low price ! )
• Join FM Premium: Get an FM+ Subscription plus video interviews, blog posts, a weekly bonus email and more.

FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

Michael Glover Smith wrote and directed the feature films COOL APOCALYPSE (2015), MERCURY IN RETROGRADE (2017), RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO (2018), and RELATIVE (2022), all of which won awards at festivals across the U.S. and were the subject of rave reviews. The Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper wrote that "Smith has a deft touch for creating characters who look and sound like people we know" and RogerEbert.com’s Matt Fagerholm has called him “one of the Windy City’s finest filmmakers.” His films have screened at the American Cinematheque and Rooftop Cinema Club in Los Angeles, Spectacle Theater and Regal UA Midway in NYC and the Gene Siskel Film Center and Music Box Theater in Chicago. He was a recipient of the Siskel Center's Star Filmmaker award in 2017 and made Newcity Chicago's "Film 50" list in 2018 and 2020 for being one of fifty individuals who "shape Chicago's film scene." He teaches Directing at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and is the author of FLICKERING EMPIRE (Columbia University Press, 2015), an acclaimed nonfiction book about film production in Chicago during the silent era.

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

Last year a New York Times article opened with 

"Henry Bernstein has seen Bob Dylan 27 times in concert and owns three items autographed by him: a copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ album, a photograph of the singer and a “John Wesley Harding” songbook. His favorite song is “Tangled Up in Blue.” 

Henry says this is a double crowning achievement in life. When he's not obsessing over Bob Dylan Henry works in Operations and Logistics for a local Jewish Day School in Chicago. His other great loves besides his family and Bob Dylan are Superman, Star Trek and the Chicago White Sox. In 2018 Henry along with his friend Rabbi Brandon Bernstein (no relation) took their love of Judaism and Comic Books and started a podcast called "Funny They Don't Look Jewish." Henry describes the podcast as a deep dive into explicit Jewish content within super-hero comic books. This can be a character identifying as Jewish, practicing Judaism, speaking Hebrew, learning Torah and everything in-between. Henry also co-hosts a podcast with Dr. Sam Brody called Superman & Lois & Pals, an episode by episode review of the popular CW tv show.  Henry can be heard talking about Bob Dylan often on Pod Dylan. Henry credits his dear friend Rob Kelly with introducing him to the Bob Dylan Twitter community and giving him a platform to be a voice in that group. Henry lives on the Northside of Chicago with his wife—a guitar playing rockstar rabbi—and his two young children, all of whom enjoy Bob Dylan and tolerate his obsession. 

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

As much as we love Bob Dylan’s many versions of his own music, we at Million $ Bash would be remiss if we did not discuss some of the gazillions of covers of Dylan’s work. Given the buzz emanating from Cat Power’s reconstruction of Dylan’s set from his 1966 British tour, it makes sense to discuss specifically covers of Dylan by women.

There is an Extended Version of this episode available on FM+. Details below.

M$B Roundtable Panelists:

• Rob “Rockin’ Rob” Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University.  He's currently at work on a book about Dylan's album John Wesley Harding.
• Nina Goss is Editor of or contributor to the volumes Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the 21st Century and Dylan at Play. She is a contributor to various anthologies and presented at the first World of Bob Dylan conference (2019), and Dylan and the Beats conference in Tulsa (2022). She teaches at Fordham University.
• Court Carney is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he teaches courses on Black history and cultural history. He is finishing a book manuscript on the public memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
• Erin Callahan lives in the Houston, Texas, area where she teaches English at San Jacinto College. She has presented and published on Dylan and is currently co-editing a volume with Court Carney on interpretations of Dylan’s setlists for Routledge.
• Graley Herren is an English professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he regularly teaches a first-year seminar on Bob Dylan. He is author of the book Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, and he has a Substack newsletter devoted to Dylan called Shadow Chasing.
• Jim Salvucci is the founder and keeper of The Dylantantes.

• Rob“Every Grain of Sand,” Emmylou Harris“She Belongs to Me,” Ane Brun“Not Dark Yet,” Shelby Lynn & Allison Moorer“I Believe in You,” Sinead O’Connor“Don’t Think Twice,” Dolly Parton“Shelter from the Storm,” Cassandra Wilson“Ring Them Bells,” Sarah Jarosz“Buckets of Rain,” Neko Case“Changing of the Guards,” Patti Smith“Boots of Spanish Leather” Nanci Griffith“Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” Chrissie Hynde“Masters of War,” Odetta“Walking Down the Line,” Eilen Jewell“Thunder on the Mountain,” Wanda Jackson“Man in the Long Black Coat,” Joan Osbourne“It’s All Over Now Baby Blue,” Marianne Faithfull“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” Ann Peebles“Million Miles,” Bonnie Raitt

3 albums too: Lavette's "Things Have Changed," Baez's "Any Day Now," & Cat Power's '66 album!

• NinaBarb Jungr, Sara; her all-Bob CDCass Elliot, Joni Mitchell, Mary Travers  I Shall Be ReleasedPatti Smith, Dark EyesJennifer Hudson, The Times They Are A-Changing
• CourtPatti Smith: Hard Rain (Nobel)Sarah Jarosz: Sign on the Window (live)Nina Simone: Just Like a WomanLucinda: It Takes a Lot to La...

Bella Napolitano is a nineteen-year old from Baltimore, and is currently a Psychology major at Bard College in Upstate New York. Bella is an aspiring child psychologist, loves creating visual art, enjoys going on long walks, and is a live-music enthusiast. She has had lifelong exposure to Dylan’s music through her father and has developed a taste for it. She saw Dylan live for the first time in Baltimore on November 24th, 2023.

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.

Michael Johnson is a Dylan adventurer. He was born in 1956 and grew up at the Jersey Shore. His first concerts were at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, starting with Black Sabbath in 1971. The next 3 plus years saw a huge shift largely as the result of him not filling out the selection cards from the Columbia Records Album Club and having to accept the album of the month, which transformed his musical horizons. He has had many jobs and started a career in teaching at age 42 in 2000. He has since transitioned from 8th-grade English teacher to school librarian, which was a survival move. Two major events in his life were sobriety in 1995 and marriage in 2015 at age 58.

You can find Michael on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MLJ9029) or pretty much wherever Dylan is playing.

Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedylantantes.substack.com

FM PODCAST NETWORK 

We're a proud member of The FM Podcast Network along with PodDylan - Dylan.FM - The Bob Dylan Primer - and more.