Ray Padgett lives in Vermont, first discovered Dylan when he was 16 in the 21st Century and was fascinated and besotted, later launching the newsletter ‘Flagging Down the Double E’s’ and now publishing the enthralling ‘Pledging My Time’, a collection of his interviews with over 40 people who’ve worked, performed and recorded with the inscrutable old rogue. Both the book and this fast-moving, whip-smart and very funny conversation are revelatory and highly recommended, the podcast shedding light on …

… the daily life of Bob Dylan – eg the piles of gifts he routinely receives and the security men who scour his vacated hotel rooms to remove anything that could be nicked and put on eBay.

… the only friend who seemed to co-exist with him on “an equal footing”.

... an eye-witness account of his first performance (aged 13) at a Jewish summer camp in Minnesota.

… the childhood friend who owned a fish business in Duluth and ended up running the Rolling Thunder Revue - as Dylan enigmatically put it, “if you can sell fish, you can sell tickets”.

... the time he went to a business conference and nobody recognised him.

… how he tells musicians to “never play the same thing twice”.

… the chance meeting with Scarlet Rivera – two hours later she was onstage as “my violinist” with Dylan and Muddy Waters.

… multiple examples of his love of spontaneity and the extraordinary way he hires musicians.  

… a rare moment when his career seemed to stall.

… and honourable mentions of Richard Thompson, Paul Stookey, Jim Keltner, Stan Lynch and Jeff Bridges.

Pledging My Time …

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pledging-My-Time-Conversations-Members/dp/B0C6VRBZQC

Flagging Down the Double E’s newsletter …

https://dylanlive.substack.com/about

Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on September 25th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/1SwIYJWoHK

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https://www.covermesongs.com/about-ray-padgett

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