Blind Willie McTell

Bob Dylan. Since he hired fiddler player Elana Fremerman, from Texas' Hot Club of Cowtown, a month or so ago, the Never Ending Tour has taken a new direction. It is reported that Dylan can't stop smiling at her when they are on stage; and that she can't believe she is playing with Bobby. [Previously, Hot Club of Cowton opened for Dylan for a couple of months late last year.] Whatever. The set lists for the three Dylan shows just performed in Boston are just jaw-dropping... look at this one:

April 16, 2005
1. Maggie's Farm
2. Forever Young
3. Cry A While
4. Bye And Bye
5. Ballad Of Hollis Brown (acoustic)
6. If You See Her, Say Hello
7. Lenny Bruce
8. Honest With Me
9. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
10. High Water (For Charley Patton)
11. Every Grain Of Sand
12. Highway 61 Revisited
(encore)
13. Blind Willie McTell
14. Like A Rolling Stone

Hollis Brown! If You See Her Say Hello! Lenny Bruce! Every Grain of Sand! Blind Willie McTell! These are songs that Dylan has performed live only once in a blue moon. Two of them -- Lenny and Every Grain -- from the underrated album Shot of Love, which should also have included Blind Willie McTell, but didn't because Dylan vetoed it. Why? Who knows but he. That opus only surfaced later on the official Columbia bootleg 1-3 triple album. Anyway, although Dylan never plays the same songs from one night to the next, this set list is just awesome. I see I need to get to grips with figuring out how to do bit torrent. As no doubt at the show there were tapers in the audience... and this show will get distributed.