It’s more a credit to Bob Dylan than Duane Eddy that, just four years into his career, the old guard had come around to covering his work. Eddy, to his credit, had the voice and instrumental capabilities needed to tackle these all-time great songs. Crucial, too, is that he picks the less obvious choices. Who’d have thought Eddy would interpret Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Not the Lovin’ Kind so wonderfully? Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan does as it says in its title. A great covers a great. Right at a time when Dylan was causing controversy with his switch to electric music and leaving his peers in the dust, Eddy was adapting the hits to a similar tone. Folk rock, the taboo of electrified instrumentals at the core of this, there’s a brilliance to that. Eddy was on the side of Dylan’s instrumental transition, and he makes it clear with some blissful covers. Across Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan is an instrumental skill which has influenced many.
Crucial to Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan, and perhaps the reason it holds up so well all these years later, is Eddy is covering the instrumental skill, not the lyrics. It’s a credit to the outstanding work Dylan had put into the likes of Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and It Ain’t Me, Babe, that the songs can be identified and connected to with guitar work alone. Eddy, naturally, puts his own spin on the song and adds some great, rambler-like guitar work. It’s twofold in its brilliance. At once relying on the memorable tone Dylan makes with his vocal work and the lyrics, Eddy manages to strip the songs of all the wordplay and nuance, yet still feature the emotional strengths of each song. That’s through cultural assimilation of those Dylan classics, of course.
But the guitar does the talking for Eddy too, and while none of these are going to better the original, there are some excellent interpretations of Dylan classics. She Belongs to Me and All I Really Want to Do are given that straight-shooting rock and roll layer. Tiresome it may get by the time Houston rolls around, the simplicity of the project is part of the charm. Mr. Tambourine Man has a lead guitar from Eddy which may as well serve as the vocals Dylan gave the original. It’s in trying to see if you can keep the same strong beat and momentum without the vocals that Eddy sets out to prove. You can, and for those that like a deeper guitar twang and no lyrics to speak of, Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan will be a treat.
There’s an interesting throughline for this Eddy release. Instrumental prowess is hardly ever paid its dues, and to hear the focus from Eddy here is remarkable. He does feed some new life into these classic Dylan tracks, much the same way Dylan would when reassembling the songs with new instruments on stage. Live versions galore for those that want them, but the twang and easy listening style Eddy brings to these songs is a delight. Some, like Blowin’ in the Wind, just don’t work, but it’s the consistency of Eddy as a player and Dylan as a remarkable musician, that keeps this project whirring away. It’s great fun, a nice reinterpretation of some great songs, built off the back of a real love Eddy had for Dylan’s work. That much is crucial, and it comes through well across Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan.
