Bettye LaVette sings “Emotionally Yours” during “May Your Song Always Be Sung.”
Seventeen Bob Dylan covers — by the likes of Bettye LaVette (“Emotionally Yours”), Richard Thompson (“She Belongs to Me”), Nils Lofgren (“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”) and Willie Nile (“Rainy Day Women #12 and 35”) — were performed during “May Your Song Always Be Sung,” an online tribute to Bob Dylan that streamed on May 20 and can be re-watched below, and elsewhere.
The impressive show was assembled by Montclair’s Outpost in the Burbs and was free, though donations were asked for — and can still be made to — The Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair.
The most adventurous reinterpretations — both very successful ones — were by Zara Phillips, who, backed by Richard Thompson on acoustic guitar, performed “I Believe in You” with a driving beat instead of taking it at its usual slow tempo; and guitarist Bill Frisell, who presented a pensive, delicate instrumental take on “Just Like a Woman.” Amy Helm performed “Meet Me in the Morning” with her son — and, of course, the late Levon Helm’s grandson — on drums.
The evening ended with a melodramatic, powerful “I Shall Be Released” by Low Cut Connie, and The Kennedys’ “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,” during which Pete Kennedy dazzled on an ever-changing variety of string instruments.
Dylan will turn 80 on May 24.
Here is the setlist of the one-hour, 45-minute show, with the embedded video below it.
“Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” Willie Nile
“I’ll Keep It With Mine,” Richard Barone
“Meet Me in the Morning,” Amy Helm
“Desolation Row,” Robyn Hitchcock
“I Believe in You,” Zara Phillips
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” Nils Lofgren
“From a Buick 6,” Jeffrey Gaines
“Just Like a Woman,” Bill Frisell
“Chimes of Freedom,” Lucy Kaplansky
“Tangled Up in Blue,” Mary Lee Kortes
“She Belongs to Me,” Richard Thompson
“Emotionally Yours,” Bettye LaVette
“Mr. Tambourine Man,” James Maddock
“Visions of Johanna,” Emma Swift
“Up to Me,” Dan Wilson
“I Shall Be Released,” Low Cut Connie
“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,” The Kennedys
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
