Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers Daniel Mackay

A happy 82nd birthday to Bob Dylan from HARD RAIN & SLOW TRAINS: BOB DYLAN & FELLOW TRAVELERS from 2019 to today!

This episode is marchin' down the line...to explore Bob Dylan's March of 1963. The 60th anniversary is the diamond anniversary – visit the pivotal developments of Bob Dylan's professional life in March of 1963...60 years ago to the month. Dylan appears on television for the first time in the United States, he does a couple different radio shows, he again records for Witmark and Sons, his publishing company, and his lyrics are featured in two issues of BROADSIDE magazine. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in March of 1963 and 2023, including memorials to Billy "The Kid" Emerson, Harry Belafonte, and Gordon Lightfoot, and news about a forthcoming Dylan album due in June. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Walkin' Down the Line" better: Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock or Sierra Ferrell. Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

Dylan is in the midst of a five-night residency at the Tokyo Garden Theater before he concludes his 11-date tour of Japan with three nights in Nagoya. To commemorate his 2023 tour of Japan, HARD RAIN & SLOW TRAINS: BOB DYLAN & FELLOW TRAVELERS concludes a two-part series featuring "'Pearls from Japan': Bob Dylan in Japan." Hear highlights of Bob Dylan's Japanese concerts over the decades: 1978 to 2018. This second part features performances from 1994 to 2023...just the other night! "20 Pounds of Headlines" includes an update on Dylan's 2023 tour itinerary and news about James Mangold's upcoming biopic of Dylan, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. "Who Did It Better?" returns this week and we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Forever Young" better: Japanese tenor Yosuke Yamamoto or Bob Dylan in Tokyo on February 28, 1978? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

On April 6, Bob Dylan returned to the stage for the first concert of 2023...in Japan. To commemorate the occasion, HARD RAIN & SLOW TRAINS: BOB DYLAN & FELLOW TRAVELERS launches the first of a two-part series featuring "'Pearls from Japan': Bob Dylan in Japan part 1". Hear highlights of Bob Dylan's Japanese concerts over the decades: 1978 to 2018. This first part features performances from 1978 to 1994. "20 Pounds of Headlines" includes an update on Dylan's 2023 tour itinerary, news about his new drummer, the relocation and opening date of the Heaven's Door whiskey bar, The Last Refuge, and the two portraits of Dylan that featured in Celine's "Portrait of a Performer" ad campaign. "Who Did It Better?" will return next week in part two.

It is an ice-cold, snowy, slushy-street February in New York City in 1963, which is where the “Highway of Diamonds” takes us this month. The 60th anniversary is the diamond anniversary – visit the pivotal developments of Bob Dylan's professional life in February of 1963...60 years ago to the month. Dylan appears on a radio show, records for both Witmark and Broadside, is photographed for the cover of his next album, and has 12 songs recorded – in some accompanied by Happy Traum on banjo – for what would eventually be called “The Banjo Tape.” In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in February of 1963 and February of 2023. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Only a Hobo" better: Bob Dylan in Folkways Studios for BROADSIDE Records in February of 1963 or Hamilton Camp  in 1964 for his second album. Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

It is a new year, which means that the “Highway of Diamonds” that takes us back 60 years – the 60th anniversary is the diamond anniversary – now takes us back to a new destination: 1963.  Visit the pivotal developments of Bob Dylan's professional life in January of 1963...60 years ago to the month. The year begins with Dylan in London, rehearsing for the BBC television play authored by Evan Jones: MADHOUSE ON CASTLE STREET, performing in London clubs, and interviewed by Ronnie Gilbert for THE SCENE. On January 4, the taping for MADHOUSE ON CASTLE STREET occurs, wherein Dylan appears as Bobby the Hobo. The next day he flies to Rome where he attends an Odetta concert, performs at a folk music club, and visits the Catacombs; he records with Richard Fariña, Eric Von Schmidt, and Ethan Signer back in London; he returns to NYC and reunites with Suze Rotolo after a seven-month absence; he records with Happy Traum for Broadside Records, and he performs his new song "Masters of War" for Izzy Young and Alan Lomax in Lomax's NYC apartment while a tape recorder is running. Other new songs this month include "Girl from the North Country" and "Boots of Spanish Leather." In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in January of 1963 and early 2023. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Masters of War" better: Bob Dylan in Alan Lomax's apartment in January of 1963 or Judy Collins a few months later in 1963 for her third album? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!