“In the drive to our digs on Albert’s compound, I gushed about to Albert how hard the band had worked in pre-production: how we had taken Peter’s great songs and worked them and re-worked them, and how we were going to make a great record and how grateful everyone was to get the chance to record in a world-class studio. After listening to me silently for a while, he stopped me mid-sentence and said in a rather nasal baritone, ‘Chris…all I am interested in these days are restaurants and wood.’ It was going to be a long autumn.” 

Dylan’s latest record, “Tell Tale Signs,” features three more versions of his song “Mississippi” that are considerably different from the version from “Love and Theft” that we’ve all known and loved for several years. It’s exciting to hear someone else going through the winnowing and polishing process, especially an acknowledged master like Bob Dylan. The confidence, the element of surprise, the ability to make an entire set of lyrics come alive in a whole ‘nother way simply by wholesale revision of the band’s arrangement… that’s what this new Dylan record represents to me, license for change.