Channeling Dylan
Old Crow Medicine Show delivers a dynamic dose of ‘Blonde on Blonde’
It's hard to improve on “Blonde on Blonde.” Recorded chiefly in Nashville in 1966, shortly after Bob Dylan went electric, “Blonde on Blonde” featured Dylan's most dense and dreamy lyrics backed by adventurous arrangements that crushed rock, folk, country and blues together. The album is a masterpiece.
“It's Bob backed by Nashville's legendary session players and at the apex of his expansive lyrical style,” Old Crow Medicine Show leader Ketch Secor said. “It's Bob doing this Coney Island of the mind thing, to borrow from (Lawrence) Ferlinghetti, with songs that spin like a Ferris wheel.”
Secor should know. He's committed the 14 songs (including the 11-minute “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”) to memory.
Last month, Old Crow Medicine Show released “50 Years of Blonde on Blonde,” a live album the band recorded last fall at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame. Now Old Crow has taken the show on the road — the folk/country/bluegrass band stops at the Orpheum on Thursday.
“People coming out don't quite know what to expect,” Secor said. “Most of the people seem to be longtime fans of Old Crow curious to see what we are up to. You can really tell who the Bob fans are by their look, and those guys are the guys I want to impress. I want to impress people like me who have seen Bob Dylan live 35 times.”
If you're hunting for a faithful rendering of the album, you'll be disappointed. The band has tinkered with the arrangements — many of the slower tunes have been sped up so the concert doesn't drag and stays true to Old Crow's live tradition. Often the tinkering has come through channeling different Dylan eras, which can make the Old Crow concert like a treasure hunt for aficionados.
“It's really been wonderful to explore Bob's sounds,” Secor said. “Our version of `Just Like a Woman' comes from `The Concert for Bangladesh.' Our version of `Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine' comes from the '74 album `Before the Flood.' And we took our `Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again' from the live `Hard Rain' record and our `Absolutely Sweet Marie' was adapted from the George Harrison version.
“It's like being able to curate your perfect Dylan show,” he added. “The one where Bob sings all the lines with complete clarity and then talks about each song afterwards.”
While Secor has a singular relationship with “Blonde on Blonde,” he says this approach could work with many albums.
“We can turn anything into a string-band song, so we could probably do this with a Marvin Gaye album,” he said.
But it's unlikely the band will take another tribute to an album on the road, mostly because it will be too busy with its own stuff. Old Crow has a new album of original material in the can that should be out in early 2018.
“I don't think the `Blonde on Blonde' tour will become a model for us, but it sure has been fun to paint with the master's brush for a while,” he said. Old Crow Medicine Show, at the Orpheum, Thursday. Tickets: $33-$44; ticketmaster.com