Bob Dylan in Texas

The first time I saw Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan he was playing in a warehouse space on Cadiz Street in Dallas not far from 508 Park Avenue, where Robert Johnson recorded "Me and the Devil Blues." For Dylan to play in a place that was like, as a writer for the Dallas Observer put it, "the box that the Longhorn Ballroom came in," is a bit incomprehensible. But there he was. The greatest poet of our time was playing a warehouse where they were selling drinks out of ice chests.

There were no seats. It was standing room only, and my old man and I got there early and found ourselves on the concrete not far from the stage. Dylan lit the place up. He was electric. He played "All Along the Watchtower," "Positively Fourth Street," and "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat." He picked up an acoustic guitar and played "Tangled Up in Blue," and then he fired up the electric again to close the show. It was the first of five Dylan shows that my father and I have seen together. Never enough.

Here is a link to Bob Dylan and the Pride of Abbott, Texas covering Fort Worth's own Townes Van Zandt. Dylan may have first heard this song after he met Townes on Guadalupe in Austin back in the 70s.

Dylan and Willie Play Townes