Talkin' Dylan with Andy and Renee

#21 Some Dylanfest and Hard Rain highlights from Andy & Renee with a little help from Marty Rifkin

#20 "May I see your references?" Part 4 - Historical figures.

#19 "May I see your references?"  Part 3 - Fellow performers

#18 “'May I see your references?' Part II: Desolation Row". in the last episode we made the observation that Bob Dylan likes to refer in his songs to previously established characters, literary, historical, and mythological. This week we dive into his most extreme example and posit that the song is an apocalyptic, epic poem in which Desolation Row is perhaps an enlightened state of mi...

#17 of Talkin’ Bob Dylan, is entitled," 'May I see your references?' Part I". Andy & Renee talk about references to people in Bob Dylan songs. It seems that more than any other pop writer, Dylan, in addition to creating an endless cast of original fictional characters to populate his songs, references other writers, singers, historical figures, mythological figures, and icons...

#16 Andy & Renee discuss Dylanesque songwriting through the lense of both homage and parody. In the parody camp, the duo yuks it up while listening to "Arms Disguised As Legs" by Steve Della Maggoria, a wonderful artist from Napa, CA. Then Andy & Renee move into the homage realm with "Blood on the (Title) Tracks" by The Title Trackers.

#15 In their first foray into Dylan’s iconic songs, Andy & Renee discuss Blowin’ In the Wind and Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man.

#14 In their 14th Installment of Talkin’ Bob Dylan, Andy and Renee let Dylan do the talkin’. Beginning with his ten “best lines”, they invent various categories like “funniest lines”, “most insulting lines”, etc., and simply trade off reading the lyrics. The podcast includes “Shooting Star” from the album “It Takes a Lot to Laugh”.

#13 Collaboration #2. Andy and Renee discuss the surprising meteoric rise of “Wagon Wheel” to iconic Americana status, and feature two different performances of the song. The podcast ends with a live studio version of “Sweet Amarillo” – the second collaboration between Wagon Wheel composers Bob Dylan and Ketch

#12 Collaborations #1. In the 12th installment of Talkin’ Bob Dylan, Andy & Renee turn their attention to the collaborative efforts of Bob Dylan. For the last two weeks they held Bob’s feet to the fire for leaving such classics as Up to Me and Blind Willie McTell off his albums. Today, Andy and Renee discuss Bob directly working with such great artists as Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, the boys in Th...

#11 In the 11th installment of Talkin’ Andy & Renee discuss Dylan’s frame of mind in the late 70’s which lead to his religious conversion. Andy recaps Dylan’s proselytizing from the stage in 1979 and the massive changes to his music during that inner shift. The two discuss Caribbean Wind and Blind Willie McTell, and the sometimes-amusing excuses Bob offers for their absence from his records.

#10 As they continue to probe the question “What Was He Thinking?” our hosts turn their attention to the songs Bob recorded but left off albums. In part One of this inquiry, we hear a Dylanfest performance of “Up to Me” and a live studio performance of “Abandoned love”.

#9 In the last few weeks, A &R have poked some fun at our Nobel Laureate for how little he performs some of his greatest works. They even invented an algorithm called OCO to illustrate the conundrum.  Today, you’re going to be able to sit back and hear a live performance by Dave Crossland of a masterpiece that Bob has never played live.   www.andyandrenee.com .

#8 What Was He Thinking? Andy & Renee take a break this week from the “types of Bob Dylan songs” discussion from the previous few weeks. They're calling these next few podcasts “What Was He Thinking?" Why doesn’t he play so many of his great songs live more often? They even invented an algorithm called OCO to illustrate the conundrum.

#7 The Songs of Bob Dylan #12 and 35: Black Diamond Bay” Andy and Renee discuss the song as a piece of black humor and throw other interpretations under the bus. We hear a live Hard Rain version from Dylanfest 2009 in its entirety.

#6 The Songs of Bob Dylan #12 and 35: Lay Down Your Weary Tune Part Two.  Andy has to finish up this discussion by himself since Renee has split town. Some interesting discussion of Chimes of Freedom and much development and speculation on the pre-eminence of Bob’s inner mental landscape.

#5 The songs of Bob Dylan #12 and 35: Lay Down Your Weary Tune Part One.  The song is discussed as a transitional song for Dylan, from politics and social justice to mysticism.

#4 Andy and Renee discuss Bob Dylan and his reaction to winning the Nobel Prize. We hear "Every Of Grain Of Sand" from Andy & Renee & Hard Rain's CD Release, "Dylanfest Live". Renee muses on a world where Bob Dylan shows up at their annual Dylanfest. The show closes with a live version of the band playing "Tweeter and the Monkey Man."   www.andyandrenee.co...

#3 Recorded fresh off of their 27th Annual Dylanfest, Andy & Renee discuss the show, the torrential downpour that bifurcated the show, and the hilarity that ensued. 😊 We hear "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", from Andy & Renee's CD release, "It Takes A Lot to Laugh" and "Leopardskin Pillbox Hat" from Bellylove, the band played on as the rain poured down w...

#2 The show opens with "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)", from Renee's CD "The Fourteenth of February", which leads into a talk about the cinematic component of Dylan's music. Then Andy and Renee discuss Dylan's creative process and offer thoughts on the subject by Robbie Robertson of The Band from his book "Testimony". A conversation about inspiration and p...

#1 Andy Hill & Renee Safier start off their podcast, "Talkin' Dylan" with "Hurricane", recorded at their 2016 Dylanfest, followed by a discussion of his experience with the song led by Andy. He leads into "Forever Young" from their CD, "Midnight Tea", a collaboration with Poet Brian Michael Tracy and Bruce Springsteen sideman, Marty Rifkin. Renee chi...

Andy and Renee, founders of the west coast version of Dylanfest, will be hosting their own podcast on Bob Dylan.  Here's a preview of what you'll be getting in this interview conducted by Mike Stark.