Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs – Aussie Style: Bonus Clearance Sale.

 

It is now some thirteen months and thirteen articles since I began this journey of documenting Dylan cover songs by Aussie (and occasionally Kiwi) singers and bands.

 

Somewhere along the journey, I decided that my ultimate aim would be to have a Footy Almanac ‘database’ that identifies every Aussie singer and band that has a commercial recording of a Dylan cover song – and where available, showcased by the appropriate YouTube clip.

 

To date, my Aussie based articles have identified 106 singers/bands (from Andrew Kidman to the Warumpi Band) and 142 recorded Dylan cover songs (from ‘All Along The Watchtower’ to ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’) (of which 98 songs have been showcased with YouTube clips). What remains for this ‘bonus clearance sale’ article are five artists who have not slotted into one of the earlier articles plus an encore for seven artists who have recorded/released multiple Dylan covers and deserve to be heard one more time. That’s right, the ‘bonus clearance sale’ where you listen to 10 Dylan covers and get two extra covers for free!

 

 

Lee Conway

 

Lee was first featured in the ‘Aussie Country Style’ article with a 1972 cover of Dylan’s ‘Wanted Man’.

 

One year later, Lee released The Stories We Could Tell album, which included a second cover of a Dylan song – ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’.

 

 

 

 

The Sports

 

In the ‘Rare Dylan Covers’ article, I showcased the 1981 5-track EP from The Sports titled The Sports Play Dylan (And Donovan). The featured song in that article was a rare cover of, perhaps, the most unique Dylan song of all time – ‘All The Tired Horses’.

 

The EP also included covers of ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’, ‘Fourth Time Around’ and this article’s featured song ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’.

 

 

 

 

Shane Howard

 

Shane was also featured in the ‘Rare Dylan Covers’ article with a cover of ‘Silvio’ from his 1994 Time Will Tell album.

 

A second Dylan cover song to appear on that album is ‘I Shall Be Released’.

 

 

 

 

Ross Wilson

 

Ross is best known as co-founder and frontman of iconic Aussie bands Daddy Cool (1970-75) and Mondo Rock (1976-91).

 

On his second solo release, 2001’s Go Bongo, Go Wild, Ross does his first and only Dylan cover – ‘She Belongs To Me’.

 

 

 

 

Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang

 

US Chris Whitley and Aussie Jeff Lang appeared in the ‘Rare Dylan Covers’ article with a cover of ‘Changing Of The Guard’ from their 2006 Dislocation Blues album.

 

A second Dylan cover song from that album is ‘When I Painted My Masterpiece’.

 

 

 

 

Brewster Brothers

 

The Brewster Brothers were featured in the ‘The Top 10’ Dylan covers article with a cover of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. That cover was taken from their 2010 12-track Play Bob Dylan (The Music That Defined The 60’s) album. Other tracks from that album include Dylan classics such as: ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, ‘I Want You’, ‘Just Like A Woman’, ‘All Along The Watchtower’.

 

All the abovementioned songs have been covered by between 90 – 440 artists. The least covered song on the album (with less than 30 covers) and this article’s featured song is ‘4^th Time Around’.

 

 

 

 

Kate Burke & Ruth Hazleton

 

Traditional and contemporary folk musicians/singers Kate Burke and Ruth Hazelton have joined forces and released five albums between 1998 – 2015. On three of those albums they have included a Dylan cover song.

 

Their 2000 cover of ‘Boots Of Spanish Leather’ is beautifully performed. In 2007, they released a cover of ‘Let Me Die In My Footsteps’ – a rarely covered outtake from Dylan’s 1962 Freewheelin’ recording sessions that only officially surfaced on the 1991 Bootleg Series Vol 1- 2: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991 boxset. Finally, on their last joint album in 2015, they covered ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’ – an outtake from Dylan’s 1963 The Times They Are A-Changin’ recording sessions that was officially released on the 1985 Biograph boxset and this article’s featured song.

 

 

 

 

Kate Ceberano & Paul Grabowski

 

Kate and Paul were previously featured in the ‘The Top 10’ Dylan covers article with a cover of ‘Make You Feel My Love’ from their 2019 Tryst album.

 

A second Dylan cover song to appear on that album is ‘Forever Young’.

 

 

 

 

The Ten Tenors

 

The Ten Tenors are an Australian music ensemble founded in 1995. Over the past 30 years, the ensemble has released 13 studio albums and worked its way through 70 tenors.

 

It was on their latest studio album, 2019’s Love Is In The Air that the ensemble finally found the occasion to record a Dylan cover song. Not surprisingly, they chose ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and do so in Italian – the tongue of tenors and of love (apparently).

 

 

 

 

Emma Swift

 

In 2020, Emma released an 8-track album of Dylan covers. As a consequence, Emma has featured in two previous articles (‘Rare Dylan Covers’ with ‘I Contain Multitudes’ and ‘The Females Take On Dylan’ with ‘Going, Going, Gone’).

 

What is most remarkable about Emma’s selection of Dylan songs is that none would be regarded as ‘hit’ songs. The most covered songs are ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’ (approx. 60 covers) and ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’ (approx. 35 covers); and the least covered song is ‘I Contain Multitudes’ (only 2 covers).

 

It would be easy to select any song from the 8 tracks on the album, but the featured song is ‘The Man In Me’ – a song that has been covered around 35 times, but uniquely (and perhaps not surprisingly), Emma is the first and only female singer to do so.

 

 

 

 

Wagons

 

Wagons is a six-piece alt-country band, formed in Melbourne in 1999 and fronted by Henry Wagons. The band has released 8 studio albums, however it was on their 5-song 2020 EP Need A Ride that they did their one and only Dylan cover – ‘To Be Alone With You’.

 

Note: Frontman Henry Wagons has previously appeared in the ‘Under The Radar – Males’ article with a cover of ‘Everything Is Broken’.

 

 

Gumbramorra Swamp Walkers

 

The Gumbramorra Swamp Walkers are Bernhard Huber and John Laidler. The duo are based around the suburb of Marrickville (just south of Sydney) and take their name from a local defunct swamp.

 

On their limited edition (200 copies only) 2021 Slow, Slap & Slide album the duo do a cover of Dylan’s ‘Buckets Of Rain’. This is the only Aussie-based cover of this song and thus the only time this little gem of a song has featured in this series.

 

 

Note: this clip has received 7 views over the past 3 years and I suspect at least 5 of those views have been mine.  I am hoping that Almanackers and friends can lift the number of views into the 20’s and beyond.

 

Closing remarks:

 

My YouTube clip cupboard of Aussie artists performing Dylan cover songs is bare – at least until more cover songs are recorded and released. This seems highly likely as Dylan’s anthology of well over 600 songs continues to intrigue, fascinate and inspire music performers from across the planet and downunder. With Dylan now inching towards his mid-80’s, there is little doubt that future events (i.e. his retirement from the music scene; the release of previously unreleased ‘masterpieces’; major film & book retrospectives on his life (e.g. A Complete Unknown biopic); &/or his inevitable death) will see a marked interest in, and resurgence of, cover songs.

 

The other way to add to the YouTube clips database is by the uploading of existing recordings to YouTube. From my research, I have identified 77 songs by 39 Aussie artists that have not yet found their way onto YouTube. In my final ‘Aussie Style’ article – to be published in the next month – I will unveil my wish list of ‘YouTube Missing In Action’ Dylan cover songs by Aussie artists.

 

Karl and his bestie doing a ‘Freewheelin’ selfie on Jones Street.

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

 

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