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There are many reasons to celebrate Charlie Sexton’s return to Bob Dylan’s live band, but the biggest one might be that Sexton’s presence frees up Dylan to peel off terrifically cranky lead lines on a guitar that sounds like it’s been strung with straightened-out wire hangers. Kicking off a three-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles last night, Dylan spent a good deal of his two-hour set tangling with the Austin blues-rock whiz, who this fall is playing guitar with the legendary singer-songwriter for the first time since 2002. In “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” they scrabbled for supremacy like two barnyard chickens; later, during an appropriately driving “Highway 61 Revisited,” Sexton dropped to his knees for a thrilling solo while Dylan jabbed out creep-show organ licks.

All night, Sexton occupied the center-stage spot, which he took advantage of by whipping around like Marty McFly at the end of Back to the Future. Not that Dylan, peering out from underneath his black gaucho hat, wasn’t worth watching, too; before he finished “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” he started bopping up and down behind his keyboard, leaning into the juicy rolling-thunder beat. (more…)

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An unreleased Bob Dylan song called “California” is set to debut on the NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack – Vol. 2 compilation on November 3rd. According to a press release, “California” was recorded in 1965 during the sessions for Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, but remained in the vaults. The track has been freshly mixed and mastered for this release, and on the same day the soundtrack hits stores, the song will also be featured on an episode of NCIS.

Though “California” has never officially been released, outtakes of the song have been circulating for years. According to Clinton Heylon’s book Revolution in the Air – The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973, both “California” and Bringing It Back’s “Outlaw Blues” were recorded on January 13th, 1965. Originally considered a early version of “Outlaw Blues,” “California” itself was in fact a piano-driven number that Dylan ended up scrapping, but not before lending one of its verses to “Outlaw Blues.” (more…)

Sincerity — that’s Bob Dylan’s present to you on his first-ever Christmas album. Based on a preview of six tracks from Christmas in the Heart — a set of traditional hymns and popular holiday songs to be released October 13th — held at the Sony Music offices this week, Dylan truly means it when he gets to the famous closing line of “The Christmas Song,” co-written by singer Mel Tormé and first cut in 1946 by Nat King Cole: “Although it’s been said many times many ways, Merry Christmas to you.” Against a restrained country-saloon-band arrangement, Dylan’s dirt-road larynx smooths out into a low warming tenor wishing you the top o’ the season. (more…)

Here’s the first look at the cover of Bob Dylan’s forthcoming album Christmas in the Heart.

As we published earlier today, proceeds from the disc are going to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

Does anybody recognize this painting? Any theories as to what it means? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Bob Dylan has made his latest unpredictable career move: Rolling Stone has learned that Bob Dylan will release a Christmas album October 13th. Entitled Christmas in the Heart, the collection will feature holiday standards including “Must Be Santa,” “Little Drummer Boy,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” All U.S. royalties from the collection will benefit the charity Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Other proceeds from the disc will benefit hunger relief organizations around the world. Get a first look at the album art here. (more…)

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Last month, police in Long Branch, New Jersey, responded to a call about a suspicious person peering into houses that were for sale during a rainstorm. Turns out, the potential perp was no criminal — it was Bob Dylan. The ensuing incident demonstrated anyone can be the victim of mistaken identity, and that Jersey cops need to brush up on their rock history.

Twenty-four-year-old police officer Kristie Buble approached Dylan, who “felt like going for a walk” before his performance that evening, Long Beach Police Department Sgt. Michael Ahart told CNN. At that point, according to the AP, the following exchange occurred between the rock legend and the fuzz: (more…)

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In one corner of the culture, it doesn’t get more quintessentially American than baseball, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan, which makes the trio’s minor league ballpark tour a summer ‘09 essential. When the show pulled into Eastlake, Ohio, this weekend, the air smelled like a street fair: fresh-boiled hot dogs and reasonably priced drafts. The crowd standing in the outfield or sitting in general-admission seats was a mix of grandparents in polo shirts, leather-clad Hell’s Angels, indie rockers in black glasses with their button-down parents and as many 10-year-olds as you’ll see at a concert that’s not affiliated with Disney.

At 76, Nelson is still on the road, continuing a career that’s seen him write Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” record with Booker T. Jones and ride shotgun with Johnny Cash. Just after 6 p.m., a giant red-white-and-blue Texan flag unfurled as Nelson sang the first words to his traditional set opener, “Whiskey River.” Dressed in black from hat to boots, the Red-Headed Stranger and his band barreled through twangy versions of 20 hits and favorites in 60 minutes. (more…)

Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

A two-page poem written by “Bobby Zimmerman,” or Bob Dylan as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame calls him, has been unearthed and is now up for auction at Christie’s. Handwritten by a teenage Dylan in the mid-1950s, “Little Buddy” was penned for The Herzl Herald, the official newspaper of Northwestern Wisconsin’s Herzl Camp, where young Zimmerman was a camper.

(Check out our full report on Rock’s Rarest Artifacts for more odd memorabilia on the auction block.)

It’s startling that even as a young teenager, Dylan could write such effective prose, as Zimmerman’s blue pen tells a sad tale about a beloved family dog that gets beat to death for being too friendly with a drunken stranger. Dylan’s protagonist waits for the doctor arrive to save his ailing dog, but unfortunately he comes too late. It’s all very depressing, but it’s funny to note that even young Dylan wasn’t immune to the dreaded grammatical pitfall of “your” versus “you’re,” writing “Your too late sir my doggy’s dead.” (Maybe it was an artistic choice?) Evidently, it wasn’t Dylan’s choice at all: despite Christie’s claim that the poem is a Dylan original, the poem is indeed “Little Buddy” by Hank Snow, a song that appeared on a compilation of his work dating from 1936-1947. Christie’s has issued a statement (read it after the jump.) (more…)

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A second video for Bob Dylan’s “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’,” the first single from his new album Together Through Life, is streaming now on IFC.com and will premiere today and tomorrow on the film channel. Unlike the original video for “Beyond Here” — which was a montage of photos by Bruce Davidson, who also took the photograph that became the Together Through Life album cover — the new clip is a dramatic short that could receive an R rating due to its graphic depiction of domestic abuse.

Directed by actor/stuntman/director Nash Edgerton and starring actors Joel Stoffer and Amanda Aardsma, the video captures a brutally violent relationship. The plot (spoiler alert!): Stoffer’s character returns home to find that his girlfriend, played by Aardsma, has escaped from being tied up to the bed. A fight ensues, and a beer bottle and frying pan are turned into weapons before Stoffer throws Aardsma into a television set and punches her out cold. Aardsma comes to before Stoffer can inject her with a needle and stabs him in the stomach with a knife. Somehow, this is a Bob Dylan video. (more…)

The Big News: As expected, Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life cracked the 100,000-sold mark easily, scanning nearly 125,000 copies during its first week in stores, and earning the 67-year-old songwriter his fifth chart-topping debut. While our current cover star failed to replicate the sales showing of 2006’s Modern Times (which sold 192,000 copies), he did manage to fend off stiff competition from Rick Ross and Miley Cyrus, who posed the biggest threat, as the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack held at Number Two (with sales reported at 86,000). Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s The Fame climbs two spots to Number Five, selling another 40,000 units on the strength of the songstress’ latest hit single, “Poker Face.”

Debuts: After Dylan, the week’s biggest debut belongs to Heaven and Hell (or, for you metal purists, the Dio-era Black Sabbath). The band’s set The Devil You Know enters the chart at Number Eight, debuting with just over 30,000 units sold. Opening at Number 10 with 26,000 scans is the Starbucks-powered world music compilation Playing For Change. (more…)

After just two days on sale, Rolling Stone cover artist Bob Dylan’s latest album Together Through Life is already on pace to top next week’s sales charts, Billboard reports. Together Through Life will likely finish the week with sales upward of 100,000, but will be hard-pressed to match the 192,000 copies Modern Times sold in its debut week in 2006. The LP would mark the fifth time Dylan has landed a Number One album.

According to Billboard, Dylan’s first chart-topper in America was 1974’s collaboration with the Band, Planet Waves. Number Ones for 1975’s Blood on the Tracks and 1976’s Desire quickly followed, and 30 years later Dylan accomplished the feat again with Modern Times. Dylan’s last official non-album release, Tell Tale Signs, debuted at Number Six in October 2008. (more…)

Photograph by Sam Jones

It’s a land of Walt Whitman and Chuck Berry, of border towns and murder ballads — and America’s greatest songwriter may be the last man living there. For the new issue of Rolling Stone on newsstands today, historian and professor Douglas Brinkley followed Bob Dylan from Paris to Amsterdam as the Midwest’s most famous son held court on American icons like Elvis Presley, Walt Whitman, Chuck Berry and Carl Sandburg.

Dylan also opened up about his partnership with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, who contributed to Dylan’s new Together Through Life and mused on playing with the guitarist Mike Bloomfield.

Rolling Stone also takes a look back at the magazine’s long history with Dylan in a gallery of his RS covers (he appeared on his first in 1968), and explores the singer’s non-musical work in a gallery of his paintings, which have been displayed in galleries worldwide. Plus, read David Fricke’s review of Together Through Life.

Also in this issue:

• Sasha Grey: The Dirtiest Girl in the World

• Mike Tyson Reveals the Only Thing That Truly Scares Him

• Meet the Chess Masters Behind Obama’s National Security

• Review: Green Day Go Bigger on 21st Century Breakdown

Photo: Micelotta/Getty

Bob Dylan’s latest, Together Through Life, arrives today, but while critics are hailing this fresh batch of hardened, urgent songs, much of the advance chatter surrounding the album centers on the involvement of Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

“Hunter is an old buddy,” Dylan explains in our next cover story, which hits newsstands this week. Dylan and Hunter collaborated on 10 songs, all but one of the album’s tracks. “We could probably write a hundred songs together if we thought it was important or the right reasons were there,” Dylan tells Rolling Stone. “He’s got a way with words and I do too. We both write a different type of song than what passes today for songwriting.”

(more…)

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As Rock Daily previously speculated, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson are teaming up for the 2009 Ballpark Tour. The jaunt kicks off July 2nd in Sauget, Illinois, with the trio playing minor league baseball stadiums across the country until August 15th. Tickets for the tour, which are all general admission and $67.50, begin to go on sale May 2nd. In addition to peanuts and Cracker Jacks, the tour will also allow free admission for children 14 and younger.

Dylan has long had an obsession with the National Pastime, dedicating a week of his Theme Time Radio Hour to the sport and touring baseball stadiums in 2004 with Nelson. News of the trek first spread when Joan Baez let the word slip after playing “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right” during a concert in Bloomington, Indiana. With John Mellencamp in the crowd, Baez said “Mellencamp? Are you really going to go on tour with that guy [Dylan]? Seriously, come talk to me after the show.” Mellencamp’s Website later promised a tour of minor league baseball stadiums with two major artists in tow. Check below for the current run of 2009 Ballpark Tour dates. (more…)

One week before his new album Together Through Life hits stores, Bob Dylan premiered the video for the album’s opener “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ ” on Amazon.com. The site will exclusively house the video from today until April 22nd, when it moves to Bob Dylan’s official Website.

Spoiler alert: Dylan doesn’t actually appear in the video. Instead, like Together Through Life’s album cover, the clip makes use of the stark black-and-white photographs of Bruce Davidson’s 1959 “Brooklyn Gang” series, creating a photo montage with “Beyond Here” as the soundtrack. A press release explains the history of Davidson’s photographs, noting that he met a crew of Brooklyn teenagers who called themselves “the Jokers” in Spring 1959 and spent the summer shooting the gang “in their natural habitat,” everywhere from street corners to the borough’s Coney Island amusement park. Despite creating a narrative out of photos from a New York street gang, the video somehow works well to enhance the “seductive border-café feel” of the Together Through Life opener. (more…)