Obvious the love Bob Dylan has for Woody Guthrie, it is incredible to hear him perform his idol’s work. Grand Coulee Dam is a deep-cut live track and offers just that. Dylan takes to Guthrie and the idiom selections throughout this track as well as expected. From the somewhat ill-forgotten Live 1961-2000: Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances, the rendition Dylan gives here showcases just how grand a live performer he is. For those that have seen the man himself in his prime and on that stage, Grand Coulee Dam will feel right at home, a piece that could only come through on the stage. 1968 is a strange and wild time for Dylan, but this track would never have fit on the albums that followed this live piece.
Grand Coulee Dam gets off on that strange placement though. Dylan is no stranger to covers and discovery, as his self-produced American songbook collections would show. But this is not a studio piece, and the closest many can get to hearing Dylan implement his raw emotion and feeling on that of a legend that came before him, is through a compilation only released on record in Japan and the UK. Deep cuts are always fun reflections that mark a change in style or tone. Electric-ready Dylan charters a trip through the world’s wonders and forgets to mention he is a musical wonder. Grand Coulee Dam does well to cement that though, a keen track ripped from A Tribute to Woody Guthrie.
This could easily settle as a Dylan-penned piece. Covering that Columbia River Ballads classic showcases just how moved and indelible Guthrie could mark his tracks. Catchy instrumentals and a big band feel are the real appeals of this. Dylan is joined by The Band and those keys and funky, upbeat and shining basslines are all part of the upbeat enjoyment here. Of course the vocals are on point, Dylan coasts through a track he is no doubt intimate with and brings a more than credible cover to the front. Thunderously good and possibly one of the best Dylan covers, pre-American songbook era, of course. But it is easy to see where Grand Coulee Dam could fit in now, if it were not so clear at the time. Dylan turns his hand toward the likes of Johnnie Mercer in his latest era, and those Guthrie influences, the reasoning behind cover work, is never far off.
An absolutely credible and entertaining highlight from a tribute concert, Grand Coulee Dam cements the love Dylan has for one of his great influences with smooth intent and expected highs. Consistent, homely and just plain nice, Grand Coulee Dam is a desperately good deep cut of the live Dylan variety that needs to fall onto more ears than it already has. Inevitably strong playing, The Band sound on fine form as they back a joyous performance from Dylan who once more pays respect to his idol. John Wesley Harding had offered that in large doses and as intimate as that gets, it cannot beat a live performance of a fine track, performed by one of the best musicians around. The stars thankfully align for Grand Coulee Dam.
Guthrie’s lyrics on this one, so poetic and beautiful, foreshadow so much of Bob’s future work.