May 2021 update: on Sunday, the eve of Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, I will publish a selection of beautiful tributes from UK artists and writers. One of the contributors who responded to my invitation, the writer Colin Irwin, describes the... Read more →
No sooner had the dust settled on my little discussion of Mr Tambourine Man, itself inspired by my first boss in journalism, Mike Amos, than a related instalment of the Dylan at 80 series crops up. And Mike, still a... Read more →
Mike Amos, the man responsible for my start in journalism (his apology to the world is in the post), insists that the best Bob Dylan cover version is the Byrds' Mr Tambourine Man. I'll grant that it's a contender for... Read more →
May 2021 update: I am reproducing this - written in the south of France, where I long to be now - as part of Salut! Live’s popular Dylan at 80 series. Stand by for more treats to come. And talking... Read more →
Sue Nicholson and I worked together as young reporters on a local paper. She later went successfully into PR, where the role in which I most remember her was as head of communications for Northumbria Police. Away from work, I... Read more →
Earlier this week, I confessed to having changed a view held for decades. Listening again to Bob Dylan's very early Percy's Song original, I conclude that I had been wrong to consider Fairport Convention's cover, excellent as it was, superior.... Read more →
