When he first heard that Bob Dylan had covered a tune from 1999’s Rumor and Sigh in concert recently, Richard Thompson admits that he figured he was being pranked.
Not that Thompson, who just released the well-regarded Electric, hasn’t had career intersections with Dylan.
After all, he recently completed a stint on Dylan’s “AmericanaramA” tour, even as Electric became a Top 20 hit in his native U.K.
Both as a solo artist and a member of Fairport Convention, the ever-humble Thompson has done his share of Dylan covers, too — including “I’ll Keep It With Mine” on What We Did On Our Holidays and “Si Tu Dois Partir” from Unhalfbricking, both from 1969.
But this was different.
Dylan offering a stripped down rendition of “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” — featuring standup bass and a banjo — during a show at Clarkston, Michigan? Thompson was, to be put it mildly, blown away.
“It was a surprise, totally,” Thompson tells Rockol. “I thought it was a hoax. I thought it was a joke!”
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