17 - Bob Dylan & the Band with John Niven (Big Pink)

Join writer John Niven to have a chat about Bob Dylan & the Band & the time they spent in Woodstock.

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John talks us through his idea for a fictional book set when the Band were living in Big Pink & recording with Dylan in the basement downstairs. We discuss how Dylan & the various members of The Band came to be in Woodstock, how the Basement Tapes recordings came about, Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting in Woodstock, the lifestyle The Band were living in the relative anonymity of Woodstock & the surrounding area.

We also talk about the new material Dylan wrote which is covered by others before he has even cut any of them himself (This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll, Too Much Of Nothing by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tears of Rage by Ian & Sylvia, The Mighty Quinn - a number one single for Manfred Mann, a few tracks by The Byrds & Fairport Convention).

We mention some of John's favourite tracks from the eventual release of the Basement Tapes in 1975 & the various bootlegs available over the years, plus the original bootleg release The Great White Wonder.

How the Band's songwriting improved suddenly & exponentially, signing with Capitol for their debut album Music From Big Pink (a deal broker by Dylan manager Albert Grossman), the impact the area ultimately had on their writing both for Dylan & The Band. We give our take on Bob Dylan's painting which ends up as the cover artwork for the first Band album & then we move onto the influence The Band subsequently have on music - the birth of the Americana genre & alt.country plus more.

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