Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers

We continue our twelve-part series featuring the cities where Dylan recorded his studio albums over the decades. Part three features Minneapolis, the city where half of the masterful BLOOD ON THE TRACKS was recorded in December of 1974. This episode was 75% finished and already featured two Peter Ostroushko songs and a short audio clip from him when we heard that he passed away yesterday afternoon...

This week we continue our twelve-part series featuring the cities in which Dylan recorded his studio albums over the decades. Part two features Mexico City; Dylan only recorded one song in Mexico City that made its way to one of his studio albums, but there is a lot of music and many musicians to feature when one narrows one's gaze to Ciudad de Mexico. In "20 Pounds of Headlines" we...

We begin a twelve-part series tonight featuring the cities in which Dylan recorded his studio albums over the decades. Part one begins in London; Dylan only recorded two songs in London that made their way to one of his studio albums, but London has nevertheless exerted his influence on his songwriting and we take a look at that, as well as playing his London-recorded songs and the music of fellow...

We celebrate the 100th episode of Hard Rain & Slow Trains by "Playing the Hundreds": playing a bunch of quirky #100 milestones from Bob Dylan's career. In "20 Pounds of Headlines" we round up news from the (quiet) world of Bob Dylan. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you who did the Carl Sigman/Jimmy Van Heusen song "I Could Have Told You" better: Fran...

Tonight we explore the music of the musicians who played with Dylan on ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS, released this past June. Some have have been playing with Dylan for decades and some joined him for the first time with this record, but they all came together to make something special. Each of them has a history and body of work that we explore in this episode. As we do each week, we round up news from t...

Tonight we conclude our two-episode feature on Dylan's youngest son, Jakob Dylan, frontman for The Wallflowers. We continue to delve into his music by listening to his songs that reflect on what he calls his "lineage"; additionally, we hear from him in interviews. We also hear a song by one of Dylan's grandsons, Pablo, we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan in "20 Po...

This week we begin a two-episode feature on Dylan's youngest son, Jakob Dylan, frontman for The Wallflowers. We delve into his music and hear from him in interviews. As usual, we round up news from the world of Bob Dylan in "20 Pounds of Headlines." Tonight on "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to go to our Twitter page @RainTrains and vote for who did Dylan's song for J...

We enter 2021 listening to songs that marked new beginnings in Dylan's creative life, featuring lesser-known Dylan performances of such songs amidst a sobering tumult in the United States. This episode includes "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan" and "Who Did It Better?" where we ask you to go to our Twitter page and vote for who did "Jokerman&q...

Our second annual end-of-year, year in review episode of Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers emphasizes "the turning of the page." We remember those who we lost in 2020 and also review 2020 highlights from the world of Bob Dylan. It was a very busy year. This episode includes "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan" and "Who Did...

Our second annual Christmas episode of Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers. This episode includes "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan" and "Who Did It Better?" where we ask you to go to our Twitter page and vote for who did "The First Noël" better: Emmylou Harris or Bob Dylan? You can listen to last year's Christmas...

Tonight we conclude our three-episode series featuring other people's songs about Bob Dylan with an episode dominated predominantly by musicians and singers from the British Isles. In "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan," we get you up to speed on newsworthy Bob Dylan events from the past week. Tonight on "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to go to our T...

This week we continue our three-episode series featuring other people's songs about Bob Dylan with a music-filled episode packed to overflowing. In "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan," we cover the basics of Dylan's monumental sale of his publishing rights to his over 600 songs to Universal Music Publishing Group announced on Monday November, 7th. Tonight...

This week we begin a three-episode series featuring other people's songs about Bob Dylan; the entire three-part series will be covering fifty songs. In "20 Pounds of Headlines: News From the World of Bob Dylan," we update you on a little-known, but important three-CD album of unreleased Dylan performances from 1970 that was released in Europe three days ago. Tonight on "Who Did...

In this week's episode we express our gratitude for the many especially beautiful versions of Bob Dylan songs we have been bequeathed, both by Dylan and also other singers: Nina Simone, Gillian Welch, Rhiannon Giddens, John Cruz, Chrissie Hynde, Liz Wright, Iris Dement, Eliza Gilkyson, and Mandolin Orange. Beautiful! This week on "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to choose between Bob...

Tonight we conclude our six-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades by covering 2003-2019. On "Who Did It Better?" the song is "Not Dark Yet," and we ask you who did it better live, Eric Clapton in 2009 on the eve of Dylan's 68th birthday or Bob Dylan in 2019? Go to our Twitter page @RainTrains and vote between the two versions.

Continuing our multi-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades; tonight, we feature Dylan's tours from 1988-2002. In 1988, Dylan assembled his own band and toured the United States for the first time since 1981 (see episode 86 on 10/29/2020 when we featured his 1984 tour of Europe and episode 87 last week for his 1986 & 1987 tours with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers...

Continuing our multi-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades; tonight, we feature Dylan's tours in 1986 & 1987 with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Grateful Dead. On "Who Did It Better?" the song is "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and we ask you who did it better live, Bob Dylan with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1986 or Bob D...

Continuing our multi-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades; tonight, we feature Dylan's tours abroad in 1978 and 1984. On "Who Did It Better?" the song is "License to Kill," and we ask you who did it better live, Bob Dylan in 1984 or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1992 at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration? Go to our Twitter page @RainTra...

We continue our multi-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades. Tonight, it is Dylan's bands from 1975-1981, including Little Feat (by way of Fred Tackett and Richie Hayward) and The Alpha Band (by way of Steve Soles, David Mansfield, and T-Bone Burnett...and sometimes David Kemper). Tonight on "Who Did It Better?" we return to "You Angel You" (see our...

This week we begin a multi-episode series featuring Dylan's bands over the decades. Tonight, it is the Paul Butterfield Blues Band - three members of which joined him on stage at the infamous Newport Folk Festival performance of July 25, 1965 - and The Band, who, truly, need no introduction...especially for you, right? Tonight on "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to go to our Twitter...

This week's episode celebrates "The Rock Era" in popular music: 1954-2007, and, of course, Dylan's place in it (to a small extent...mostly we are just playing great rock music and discussing it). We remember Eddie Van Halen who passed away on October 6th and John Lennon, who would have turned 80 on October 9th. This week on "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to choose be...

This week we feature Dylan's instrumental performances, with a detour into a handful of instrumental versions of Dylan tunes. "Who Did It Better?" takes a week off, but it will be back next week. Why don't you take the time you save from not voting this week to give Hard Rain & Slow Trains a review on your favorite podcasting app? Thanks!

This week's episode is for those who know that there must be something to Dylan's music but have never been able to get into it. Don't worry, we got you covered: just press play and we will open you up to a world of fantastic music. Share this episode with your friends who have never been able to get into Dylan but may still be open-minded enough to listen to this episode and give h...

This week we revisit Bob Dylan's 2006-2009 run of his weekly satellite radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour. The occasion is the announcement that next week, on September 21, 2020, Theme Time Radio Hour returns with the broadcast of a two-hour episode, "Whiskey," that Dylan recorded while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dylan, of course, owns Heaven's Door Whiskey,...

After so many episodes dedicated to Dylan's most recent album, let's dial back the clock 59 years to the recording of Dylan's self-titled first album. Recorded in Studio A of Columbia Recording Studios in New York City on November 20th and 22nd, 1961, and produced by John Hammond, Sr., BOB DYLAN was released on Monday, March 19, 1962, the last day of the winter of 1962 and at the sp...