Brian Wilson to Headline Newport Folk Festival

The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson has added a pair of U.S. live dates as he gears up for the September 2nd release of That Lucky Old Sun (A Narrative). First, Wilson will visit New York's Coney Island on July 17th for the 30th Annual Seaside Summer Concert Series. Two weeks later, the singer will join Trey Anastasio, Cat Power, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and many more at this year's Newport Folk Festival on August 1st, where he'll headline the fest's opening night. Wilson's U.S. visit will also find him performing at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom in June and doing a three-night run at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl. That Lucky Old Sun, a collaboration between Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, first made its debut in September 2007 at London's Royal Festival Hall. The album also reunites Wilson with Capitol Records, the original home of the Beach Boys.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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