Partrick, Katie, and Diane knew how much I enjoyed Bob Dylan’s music so for Father’s Day weekend, they arranged an impromptu visit to New York City which included tickets to Girl From the North Country, a musical based on Bob Dylan songs.
The setting is Duluth, Minnesota in 1934. It’s winter and a band of desperate people stay at a boarding house on its last legs. Everyone has problems, everyone seems doomed. Music seems to be the only thing that can raise their spirits.
I found the Dylan music in Girl From the North Country an eclectic mix of songs that jump around from the Seventies and Eighties back to the Sixties. There are more songs in the Second Half of Girl From the North Country than in the First Half. And, the musical ends with “Pressing On,” a gospel song from Dylan’s 1980 album, Saved. You can listen to my favorite version of “Pressing On” here.
If you like Bob Dylan’s songs, you’ll enjoy this musical which celebrates his diversity of tunes. I’m sure touring companies of Girl From the North Country will be traveling around the U.S. in 2023. Are you a Dylan fan? GRADE: A
I’m a fan, but I’m not sure this sort of “Rock of Ages” approach is the way I want to hear his music. I saw Dylan in concert a few years ago and his voice is totally shot now, plus he had zero rapport with the audience. I think I’ll be sticking to my collection of Dylan CDs. “When we meet again/Introduced as friends….”
Deb, the actors in GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY infused Bob Dylan’s songs with emotion and clarity. I agree with you that Dylan’s voice now is shot. He also sold the rights to all his songs for $300 million.
Yeah—I just saw an AirB&B commercial using “Shelter from the Storm.”
Deb, many song writers have sold their rights to corporations. Stevie Nicks got a couple hundred million!
I agree that “Pressing On’ is quite good, and don’t believe I’ve ever heard it. Dylan’s Christian period was generally not very fruitful musically, but it did produce one real masterpiece–“Every Grain of Sand” from the 1981 album, SHOT OF LOVE.
Michael, I agree with you on “Every Grain of Sand.” “Pressing On,” the Alicia Keys version, captures a quality of resolve that has made it a staple on the Gospel Music circuit.
Like Deb, seeing him live was a big disappointment and that was probably thirty years ago. He never engaged with the audience at all. Or course, this isn’t what you saw and I think I would enjoy this. Not much hope of getting to NY again though. Maybe it will come to Detroit.
Patti, I’m expecting GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY to tour next year.
I’m a big fan of early Dylan, back in the days when his songs were all over the radio. Later Dylan, with his garbled lyrics, not so much. Much of his vast output is better off read rather than listened to. I do admire him for his willingness (obsession?) to constantly change and grow. And yes, I think he deserved the Nobel Prize.
Jerry, I agree totally!
Those early songs were so different and then his switch to “electronics” was great.
Highway 61 and then Desolation Row (my absolute favourite), fantastic for a teenager like me! From my hard earned money I bought the LP and copied it to my tape recorder …
A bit OT:
I never had a chance to go to one of his concerts though he gave one in my hometown Tübingen a few years ago when I was in Hungary, I was so disappointed. But my friends who were there told me that the concert was a catastrophe – open air and it didn’t help that there was heavy rain and for safety reasons people were not allowed to bring umbrellas!
But I and my wife were flabbergasted when we read that Johnny Winter was coming to Tübingen to play in a small club, stood there less than five meters from him sitting on a chair and playing Highway 61 …
That was just a few weeks before he died in Switzerland.
Sorry, of course I wasn’t a teenager then anymore – just a university student living the life …
Wolf, I went to a Bob Dylan concert when I was 16. It was 1965 and that was my first rock concert.
Wolf, Dylan is in his 80s and still touring!
Jerry, many of my friends were shocked when Dylan won the Nobel Prize. Like you, I felt that he deserved it. There are few songwriters who have morphed as many times as Dylan has.
We saw him in concert with Paul Simon (whose voice is also shot) ten or fifteen years ago. The highlight of sorts was each of them singing a couple of the other’s songs.
We liked GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY too. Deb, the story will hold your attention. The songs are woven into the action and it is NOT a “concert musical” in my opinion. I was pleasantly surprised by Mare Winningham’s singing on “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Forever Young.” Several of the cast members were musicians who played on stage, all instruments appropriate to the period.
Jeff, I was amazed when one of the actresses started playing the drums. It was Luba Mason, who learned how to play the drums specifically for her part in GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY!
I’m a big Dylan fan and have seen him several times over the years. My favorite one was in Detroit in fall 1965 backed up by the Hawks (basically the Band minus Levon ). Not sure I would enjoy this. Some of his songs don’t seem to work right without it being sung by him (Like a Rolling Stone for one).
Steve, “Like a Rolling Stone”–sung by Dylan and featuring Michael Bloomfield, guitar, Joe Macho, Jr., bass, Bobby Gregg, drums. Al Kooper is at the organ; Paul Griffin is at the piano; Bruce Langhorne is playing tambourine–is my favorite Dylan song. It still sounds fresh after nearly 60 years!
Steve, I envy you!
We German rock fans didn’t have too many concerts by the great ones in the 60s and even later.