Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs – Aussie Style: New discoveries in 2025

 

At the time of publishing my last ‘Dylan Cover Songs – Aussie Style’ article on 11 February 2025, I had a database containing 151 Aussie bands/singers who had covered 231 Dylan songs. Of those artists and songs, the twelve ‘Aussie Style’ articles published between 23 January 2024 and 11 February 2025, showcased 120 Aussie bands/singer and 199 songs.

 

Since February 2025, I have added an additional 30 Aussie artists and a further 47 Dylan cover songs to my database – bringing the grand total of Aussie bands/artists to 181 and the grand total of Dylan cover songs by Aussie artists to 278.

 

So, to kick off 2026, I thought I would revisit my ‘Aussie Style’ series with an article featuring ten of my most recent Aussie discoveries. To qualify for this article, the selected ‘ten’ bands/singers have not featured in any of the previous ‘Aussie Style’ articles. The article will be presented chronologically based on the release date of the Dylan cover song.

 

 

The Sharades

 

The Sharades were a short-lived five-piece band formed in Melbourne in 1967. The band released one single, in November 1967, on the Scope label. The A side was a cover of The Young Rascals ‘What Is The Reason’. The flipside, finds a cover of Dylan’s ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1965 Bringing It All Back Home album:

 

 

 

 

Tim Rogers

 

In January 1997, You Am I released the 4-track CD single Tuesday. Track 4 is a solo live cover of Dylan’s ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You’ by You Am I frontman Tim Rogers. The cover song was recorded live in April 1996 at the Metro in Sydney when Tim opened for Nick Lowe. Dylan’s original can be found on his 1969 Nashville Skyline album:

 

 

 

 

Backsliders

 

The Backsliders are an accomplished three-piece blues band that has been active since 1988. In 2000, distinguished percussionist Rob Hurst (ex-Midnight Oil) joined Dom Turner (guitar/vocals) and Ian Collard (harmonica).

 

On their 2009 self-released Throwbacks album, the band included a cover of Dylan’s ‘The Ballad Of Hollis Brown’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1964 The Times They Are A-Changin’ album. The following YouTube clip features an October 2009 live version of the cover song, captured at the Great Southern Blues Festival in Narooma:

 

 

 

 

James Valentine

 

Although James is best known as an ABC radio presenter, he has served time as a saxophonist for Jo Jo Zep (1982), The Models (1984-87) and Absent Friends (1989-90).

 

For reasons best known to James, in 2009 he decided to record a solo debut ten-track studio album of cover songs titled Debut. Among the tracks is a jazzy cover of Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1963 Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album:

 

 

 

 

Andrew Morris

 

Andrew has been a solo performer since 2004 and was also a member of Melbourne based five-piece country blues band The Wilson Pickers between 2008-16.

 

In 2012, Andrew released his sixth solo studio album The Situationist – an album that features a cover of Dylan’s ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1965 Highway 61 Revisited album:

 

 

 

 

Chris Murphy

 

Chris is a pop/rock singer who achieved a modicum of fame when he placed fourth in Australian Idol in 2006. His second studio album Happy Boy was released in 2014 and contains a cover of ‘Handle With Care’, and features James Blundell on vocals. The original song was co-written by Dylan along with his Traveling Wilbury buddies (Harrison, Lynne, Petty and Orbison) and released on their 1988 The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 album:

 

 

 

 

Montgomery Church

 

Montgomery Church is an Australian acoustic folk duo, based in the NSW Snowy Mountains region, and comprising Cielle Montgomery on vocals and acoustic guitar and James Church on dobro and harmony vocals.

 

In March 2018, the duo filmed and recorded a ‘live’ cover version of Dylan’s ‘I Was Young When I Left Home’ for their In the Shadow of the Mountain album. The original song was only recorded once by Dylan ~ on a tape machine owned by David Whitaker in late 1961. The ‘home recording’ eventually found its way as a bonus disc with the limited edition 2001 Love & Theft album. The song also featured in the 2024 ‘A Complete Unknown’ biopic :

 

 

 

 

The Gospel Chapel Band

 

The Gospel Chapel Band is a Christian ‘indie’ band founded in Victoria. The band’s music can be found on streaming platforms like Spotify and Amazon.

 

In October 2020, the band released The Gospel Songs Of Bob Dylan album, which features fifteen songs from Dylan’s 1979-81 Christian period. The selected cover song for this article is ‘Pressing On’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1980 Saved album:

 

 

 

 

Nicki Parrott

 

Nicki Parrott is a Newcastle-born jazz vocalist and bass player. After completing her studies at the NSW Conservatorium Of Music, Nicki decided to pursue her musical career in the USA. She has released over thirty albums since 2001.

Nicki’s one and only forage into the Dylan songbook was on her May 2024 Feelin’ Groovy album. Her song of choice? ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ – originally released on Dylan’s 1967 John Wesley Harding album:

 

 

 

 

Angus & Julia Stone

 

Angus & Julia Stone are highly regarded indie-style singer/songwriters who are best known for ‘Big Jet Plane’ – which was voted the #1 song on Triple J Hottest 100 for 2010. Together, they have released five top 10 charting studio albums between 2007-24.

 

It is on their latest album, Cape Forestier, released in May 2024, that they cover Dylan’s ‘I Want You’ – originally released Dylan’s 1966 Blonde On Blonde album:

 

 

 

 

Observation:

 

Of the ten covers offered in this article, eight are drawn from Dylan’s 1960’s songbook.  This is despite the vast majority of covers being recorded more than 40 years after the 1960’s.  This seems to reflect the immense drawing power of Dylan’s earliest songwriting period ~ time has not diminished the desire by modern artists to continue exploring the young Dylan.

 

 

Concluding remarks:

 

In early 2027 I will most likely return to the ‘Aussie style’ series – I have no doubt that new discoveries or new contributions to the theme will continue to come to light and expand my Aussie database.

 

As the database now stands, I still have 51 Aussie bands/singers and 69 Dylan cover songs still waiting patiently to be showcased in an ‘Aussie Style’ article.

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

 

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