Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs – International Style #10 ~ Complete Albums of Dylan Covers by Solo Male Artists (Take 1)

 

On 22 July 2025, the Footy Almanac published the Complete Albums of Dylan Covers by Female Artists (Take 1) article. 

 

Now it is the turn of the male artists. My database contains sixty-one albums by solo male singers that are wholly or significantly dedicated to Dylan covers. This chart will showcase the first twelve albums to be released, with each album being represented by a Dylan cover song.

 

Before we get into this article too deeply, I need to offer a word of warning. Since January 2024, I have presented Dylan cover songs within uniquely themed articles without fear, favour or ‘taste/quality’ censorship. I honour those principles in this article ~ although I must advise that the quality of cover songs by some of the male singers in this article are the most ‘disappointing’ to date.

 

Hamilton Camp

It is totally unsurprising that Hamilton was the first male singer to release an album that included a majority of Dylan cover songs ~ in fact, seven of the thirteen songs on his debut 1964 Paths Of Victory album were Dylan covers. Hamilton was one of the first folk singers to sign with Albert Grossman ~ and Albert used his stable to artists to ruthlessly promote the songs written by his star recruit, Bob Dylan ~ and in the process get a generous cut of royalty payments. Although, paltry sales of the unknown Hamilton’s debut album would have hardly generated a few nickels or dimes for Dylan’s or Grossman’s trust funds.

 

Of the seven Dylan cover songs included on the album, only one ~ ‘Girl From The North Country’ ~ was available on a Dylan studio recording (i.e. Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan). The remaining six Dylan covers were all outtakes or demo recordings that would not see the light of day until released on the 2010 The Bootleg Series Vol.9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-64.

 

The chosen song for this article is ‘Long Time Gone’ ~ a song Dylan wrote and recorded as a ‘demo only’ in late 1962.

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Hamilton co-wrote ‘You Can Tell The World’, which would be recorded by Simon & Garfunkel and become the opening track to their debut 1964 Wednesday Morning, 3AM album. The Seekers also recorded a version that appears as the penultimate track on their 1965 A World Of Our Own album.

 

Sebastian Cabot

Sebastian Cabot may be best remembered by those of us aged 60 plus for his role as Giles French in the American CBS TV sitcom A Family Affair, which ran from 1966 – 71. For those a bit younger who fancy 3^rd remakes of classic Xmas movies, Cabot played ‘Kris Kringle’ in the 1973 TV movie of Miracle On 34^th Street.

 

In 1967, Cabot narrated the Disney animated film The Jungle Book. Also in 1967, in what can only be considered an intriguing career move, Cabot released his one and only solo album ~ Sebastian Cabot, Actor: Bob Dylan, Poet: A Dramatic Reading With Music.

 

The eleven songs selected for the album were taken from:

• 1962-63 Outtakes: ‘Who Killed Davey Moore’, ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’, ’Seven Curses’, ‘Quit Your Lowdown Ways’;

• Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan: ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’;

• The Times They Are A-Changin’: ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’, ‘Boots Of Spanish Leather’;

• Another Side of Bob Dylan: ‘All I Really Want To Do’, ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’; and

• Highway 61 Revisited: ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.

 

Only a small number of tracks from this album are available as stand-alone videos on YouTube ~ as a consequence, the chosen song dramatic reading for this article is ‘Like A Rolling Stone’:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Between 1988–1997, Rhino Records collected 62 tracks of critically lambasted cover versions of songs by celebrities not known for their musical talent. The tracks were compiled into four albums and released under the Golden Throats moniker. Celebrities who have featured in one of my previous ‘Dylan covers’ articles as well as the Golden Throats series are: William Shatner, Eddie Albert, Mae West, Goldie Horn and Telly Savalas. Sebastian Cabot can now be added into that distinguished ensemble of celebrities.

 

Dave Travis

Dave was an English songwriter, guitarist and singer active from 1967. Between 1968-69, Dave released four solo studio albums of mostly country covers, including an album dedicated to Hank Williams.

 

Then, in 1971, Dave released a twelve song Dylan covers album, simply titled: Tribute To Bob Dylan.

 

The cover songs include seven from Dylan’s early-mid 60’s era and five from the Basement Tapes and Nashville Skyline/New Morning eras ~ ‘If Not For You’, ‘I Shall Be Released’, ‘Mighty Quinn’, ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’, ‘Lay Lady Lay’.

 

Unfortunately, the cover songs on vinyl have failed to navigate into the digital realm.

 

 

Brief interlude to allow for a brief observation:

In the world of Dylan covers, it can generally be stated that cover songs (singles and complete albums) had a heyday in the mid/late 60’s to early 70’s ~ then a hiatus ~ then a second coming from the 90’s onwards.

 

For example:

• my two articles on Dylan cover songs by Kiwi (New Zealand) artists were broken into two distinct periods of activity: 1965-1975 and 2000–2015;

• my ‘cover albums by female singers’ article revealed an initial four album flurry between 1964-1968 before activity ceased, only to be re-ignited from 1992 onwards;

• a future ‘cover albums by bands’ article will reveal five albums between 1965-1977 before renewed interest from the late 1990’s.

 

I am not sure what all this means, but I thought readers may be interested in this ‘discovery’.

 

And to add more intrigue into this ‘discovery’, after three complete albums by male singers ~ released between 1964-1971 ~ the next entry in this article does not emerge until 1990!

 

Steven Keene

Steven is a singer, guitarist and songwriter who was born in Brooklyn, NY and forged his reputation in the cafés and folk clubs around Greenwich Village during the 1980-1990’s.

 

By the late 1980’s, Keene was ready to release his first album ~ a tribute to Dylan, titled Keene On Dylan. The album, released in 1990, contained twenty-four tracks, of which fifteen were Dylan originals or songs Dylan had previously covered (e.g. ‘Man Of Constant Sorrow’, ‘Pretty Peggy-O’). The remaining nine tracks were Keene originals with a heavy dose of ‘Dylan channeling’.

 

The selection of Dylan songs that Keene covered is quite unique: ranging from the acoustic talkin’ blues songs of the early 1960’s; to the mid 1960’s mercurial electric era (e.g. ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’, ‘Gates Of Eden’, ‘I Want You’, ‘Queen Jane Approximately’); to the mid 1970’s ‘Shelter From The Storm’ and ‘Isis’; to the largely forgotten 1981 ‘Dead Man’; and ending up with 1989’s ‘What Was It You Wanted?’.

 

Keene’s reputation as an ‘interpreter’ of Dylan songs was such that he was able to engage the services of Rob Stoner and Howie Wyeth to collaborate on his Dylan tribute album. Both Stoner and Wyeth are well known for their work with Dylan on his 1976 Desire album and 1976-77 Rolling Thunder Revue concerts.

 

A fine example of Keene’s interpretive Dylan style at the time he recorded Keene On Dylan can be viewed in this YouTube clip:

 

 

 

 

This clever and humorous ‘cover’ combines bits of ‘Talkin’ New York’ from the 1962 Bob Dylan album and ‘Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues’ (a 1961 outtake) ~ neither song has ever been covered in full by any artist.

 

Trivia: Not content to leave his foray into Dylan covers with Keene On Dylan, Keene released No Alternative in 1995. This seventeen track album included a further three rarely covered Dylan songs ~ ‘Walkin’ Down The Line’, ‘Never Say Goodbye’ and ‘Sign On the Window’. What is perhaps more interesting, is that Keene was able to secure the services of Tony Garnier, who has been bass player and musical director for all Dylan concert tours since 1989 and has featured on all ten Dylan studio albums released between Time Out Of Mind (1997) and Rough & Rowdy Ways (2020).

 

Phil Carmen

Phil is a Swiss musician, who released ten studio albums between 1982 – 1995. He achieved some success in 1985 with the single ‘On My Way In LA’, which peaked at #18 in Germany and #9 in Switzerland.

 

In 1996, Phil released his final and eleventh studio album ~ Bob Dylan’s Dream ~ comprising twelve Dylan cover songs. Despite being recorded in the mid-90’s, the twelve tracks are all drawn from Dylan’s early-mid 60’s songbook. Only the entire album is available on YouTube, and opens with ‘Girl From The North Country’ (00:00 – 03m:23s):

 

 

 

 

The remaining tracks, with start times, are:

 

‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’ (03:33s)/ ’My Back Pages’ (07m:29s)/ ’Chimes Of Freedom’ (11m:33s)/ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ (15m:44s)/ ‘Oxford Town’ (18m:48s)/ ‘Just Like A Woman’ (21m:05s)/ ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ (25m:51s)/ ‘Only A Hobo’ (29m:48s)/ ‘You Ain’t Going Nowhere’ (32m:40s)/ ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ (36m:21s)/ ‘Corinna Corinna’ (39m:36s).

 

Trivia: Phil credits Dylan for the song ‘Corinna Corinna’, however, it is in fact a traditional song that dates back to the 1920’s. Dylan covered the song on his 1963 Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album, which probably explains Phil’s confusion over song ownership.

 

Tim O’Brien

Tim was born in 1954 in West Virginia. He plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and mandocello. Since 1977, Tim has released more than 25 albums, including ten albums that have peaked inside the top ten on the US Grass Charts and the 2005 Grammy Award winning Fiddler’s Green ~ awarded for Best Traditional Folk Album.

 

In 1996 Tim recorded his ninth studio album ~ a thirteen track Dylan covers album titled Red On Blonde.

 

Of the thirteen songs selected for the album, eight were drawn from Dylan’s 60’s songbook: ‘Lay Down You Weary Tune’, ‘Farewell Angelina’, ‘Oxford Town’, ‘Masters of War’, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, ‘Maggie’s Farm’, ‘Tombstone Blues’, ‘The Wicked Messenger’.

 

The remaining five songs are an interesting mix: ‘Father of Night’ (New Morning 1970); ‘Forever Young’ (Planet Waves 1973); ‘Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)’ (Street Legal 1978); ‘Man Gave Names To All The Animals’ (Slow Train 1979); ‘Everything Is Broken’ (Oh Mercy 1989).

 

The selected song for this article is ‘Father Of Night’:

 

 

 

 

‘Father Of Night’ has only been covered by nine artists. Although this is Dylan’s shortest studio recorded song at 1m:27s, the most notable cover version is by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band ~ a live version that runs for almost 10 minutes.

 

Trivia: It has been reported that Tim’s interest in music began at the age of twelve (1966) when he heard his older sister Mollie playing a Bob Dylan album. It is perhaps no surprise then that Tim’s Red On Blonde album gives a nod to Dylan’s 1966 Blonde On Blonde album. However, it seems counter intuitive that no cover songs on Red On Blonde were taken off Blonde On Blonde.

 

Steve Gibbons

Steve was born in 1941 in Birmingham. He is a blues-rock singer/songwriter and guitarist that has made a living from the music industry for the past 60 years despite never cracking into the mainstream. In fact, of all Steve’s ventures, the only sniff of commercial success happened in 1977 when The Steve Gibbons Band’s cover version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Tulane’ reached #12 on the UK singles chart.

 

Steve’s musical career included stints with: The Uglys (formerly The Dominettes) 1958-68; Balls 1969-71; Idle Race 1971; and finally, Steve Gibbons Band 1975-2008/The Dylan Project 1998-2016.

 

Steve also released three solo studio albums ~ Short Stories (1971), Stained Glass (1996) and, in 1998, a fourteen track Dylan cover song album titled The Dylan Project.

 

The selection of songs for this album are an interesting mix ~ eleven songs from the 60’s, including lesser known late 60’s songs: ‘Winterlude’; ‘I Am A Lonesome Hobo’; ‘Down Along The Cove’; and ‘Peggy Day’. One song, ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’ is from the 70’s and two songs, ‘Ring Them Bells’ and ‘Dark Eyes’ are from the 80’s.

 

The song selected for this article is ‘Peggy Day’ ~ originally recorded by Dylan on his 1969 Nashville Skyline’ album:

 

 

 

 

There have only been three covers versions of this song, with the Steve Gibbons Band’s version the first to be released.

 

Trivia: In 1998, Steve renamed his band (now including Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention fame) The Dylan Project. By 2001, the band released a live 13 track Dylan covers album titled Live At Cropredy Festival 1999 – with seven songs previously included on the above-mentioned The Dylan Project album.

 

Steve Howe

Steve is best known as guitarist and backing vocalist for English progressive rock band Yes. Steve’s tenure with Yes began in 1971 with the band’s third album (and the first to impact music charts across the globe) The Yes Album. The band released its 23^rd studio album Mirror To The Sky in 2023 and along with various six and twelve string/acoustic and electric/Fender, Martin, Gibson and Les Paul guitars and vocal duties, Steve is credited as album producer.

 

During periods of lesser Yes activity, Steve was a founding and active member of English progressive rock supergroup Asia.

 

Both Yes and Asia took time out to let individual members explore other project including solo work. In this regard, Steve maintained a high work rate, releasing fifteen solo studio albums between 1975 – 2024.

 

In a significant detour, Steve secured the services of several notable musical friends and colleagues to help out on his 9^th solo album ~ a twelve cover song tribute to Dylan titled Portraits Of Bob Dylan released in 1999.

 

As with most Dylan cover albums, the vast majority of songs ~ in this case, nine of twelve ~ are drawn from Dylan’s 60’s songbook. Perhaps the most surprising selection from the 60’s is Dylan’s epic ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’. The three post 60’s songs are: ‘Going, Going, Gone’ (from Planet Waves); ‘Buckets Of Rain’ (from Blood On The Tracks); and a song co-wrtten with Danny O’Keefe but never recorded by Dylan ‘Well, Well, Well’.

 

Lead vocal duties on the album are shared, including Jon Anderson, Phoebe Snow. Alan Hicks, Annie Haslam. Steve provides lead vocals on four songs, but the only one currently available on YouTube (and the selected song for this article) is ~ ‘Just Like A Woman’:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Steve named his first-born son ‘Dylan’ and it is Dylan Howe who performs drums on all tracks on this tribute album.

 

Michel Montecrossa

Michel was born in Germany in 1945. His upbringing and background would be worthy of a separate article. But, for the purposes of this article, suffice to say that Michel is the most prolific cover-artist of Dylan’s songbook.

 

These covers now number in excess of 500 and have, annually between 2001-16, been progressively recorded ‘live’ with The Chosen Few band at concerts called ‘Michel Montecrossa’s Michel and Bob Dylan Festival’. For those ‘under the radar’ Dylan songs that have only been covered once, it will usually be Michel who holds the honour.

 

In 2000, prior to embarking on his project to record every Dylan song in a concert setting, Michel released a studio album ~ Jet Pilot ~ comprising fourteen songs of which ten are Dylan covers. Not surprisingly, the selection of songs on this album were atypical: ‘Jet Pilot’ (Blonde On Blonde outtake); ‘Tell Me, Momma’ (only played ‘live’ during 1966 world tour); ‘Mississippi’ (unreleased recorded by Dylan at that time); plus rarely covered songs ~ ‘Outlaw Blues’, ‘Song For Woody’ and this articles selection ~ Things Have Changed:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Michel’s own songbook of original songs is said to exceed 2200!

 

Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn was born in London in 1953. He formed his first band, the psychedelic folk-rock The Soft Boys, in 1976.

 

By 1981, Robyn focused on a solo recording and performing career ~ and has released twenty-two studio albums and multiple ‘live’ and compilation albums in the years that have followed.

 

Robyn has openly credited Dylan for providing the inspiration for his own songwriting career and in 2002 released a sixteen song, double album of ‘live’ Dylan covers, performed on various dates and simply titled Robyn Sings. The first disc has an interesting mix of Dylan songs – the mid 60’s (‘Visions Of Johanna’; ’Desolation Row’; ‘4th Time Around’; ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’) plus ‘Tangled Up In Blue’, ‘Dignity’ and ‘Not Dark Yet’. The second disc is a re-creation of the electric second half of Dylan’s 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall Concert.

 

The song selected for this article is Visions Of Johanna:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Since 2015, Robyn and Australian singer Emma Swift have been married. They reside in Nashville and regularly perform together. In 2020, Emma released her own Dylan covers album ~ Blonde On The Tracks.

 

Extra trivia: The Soft Boys’ 1980 Underwater Moonlight album is included in Robert Dimery’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

 

Den Fiori

There is not much I can say about Den. He appears to be an amateur singer of Italian origin and has released tribute albums to Bob Dylan (2002) and George Harrison (2008) under the Verona based Azzurra Music label.

 

On first listen to a few of Den’s ‘Dylan covers’ available on YouTube, what struck me was that the music, including Dylan’s distinctive harmonica, seemed to have been pulled directly from Dylan’s original and the cover song simply involved Den overdubbing his vocals ~ vocals that have no endearing quality, by the way.

 

I have subsequently found a post that has questioned the legitimacy of Den publishing an album in such a fashion. To quote:

 

“I don’t know how in the hell Den Fiori could be allowed to do this. This isn’t work of tribute, this is plagiarism. The trouble is, nobody knows who this bugger is.”

 

Den’s ten track Dylan tribute album was released in 2002 and simply titled Bob Dylan Greatest Hits. The album included four songs that actually appeared on Dylan’s original 1967 Greatest Hits album ~ ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, ‘Positively 4^th Street’, and ‘Just Like A Woman’. The remaining six songs are: ‘All Along The Watchtower’, ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’, ‘Forever Young’, ‘Tangled Up In Blue’, ‘Shelter From The Storm’ and ‘Things Have Changed’.

 

The selected song for this article is All Along The Watchtower:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: With over 230 cover versions, ‘All Along The Watchtower’ is Dylan’s 7^th most covered song. I would guess that over 95% of those covers are actually covers of Jimi Hendrix’s cover of the song. Despite the lack of integrity in Den’s cover version, it is sometimes refreshing to hear a version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ as it was originally intended.

 

Bill Camplin

Bill is a Milwaukee-based folk singer/songwriter. He was a member of the band Woodbine, who released one album in 1971, before embarking on a solo career and releasing five albums between 1973-76 and 2002-03. Bill’s first dabble with the Dylan songbook was ‘Positively 4^th Street’ on his second (1975) studio album closely followed by ‘Love Minus Zeo/No Limit’ on his third (1976) studio album.

 

Bill’s final studio album, released in 2003, is called Bob Dylan Project One. The album contains twelve Dylan covers, with eleven songs drawn from Dylan’s 60’s songbook and, (perhaps strangely) one song, ‘Senor’ from Dylan’s 1978 Street Legal album.

 

Although not recorded on the above-mentioned 2003 album, the selected song for this article is a live 2008 rendition of ‘Just Like A Woman’ ~ it nicely captures Bill’s passionate respect for the Dylan songbook:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: For the past twenty years, Bill has owned and been head chef at Café Carpe on the banks of the Rock River at Fort Atkinson, about one hour drive west of Milwaukee. Nowadays, Bill is content to occasionally emerge from the kitchen and showcase his talent (and the odd Dylan cover) in his own café, as well as other cafés and the annual Bob Fests in the local area.

 

Final comment:

At the time of publishing this article (late March 2026) there remain a further forty-nine ‘complete albums of Dylan cover songs by solo male artists’ to showcase; however, it will be at least two years before my backlog of articles allows me to return to this theme.  I am not uncomfortable to give this theme a decent rest.? ?

 

Next time we revisit the ‘Dylan Cover Songs: International Style’ series (i.e. late May 2026), we will be doing a dive into those songs that are claimed to be Dylan’s personal favourites. 

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read HERE.

 

 

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