Ramblin': Farm Aid 2023: Highlight includes surprise Dylan guitar set

Oct. 1—It's a funny thing about guitars.

At least for one artist, they've brought out both the worst and the best reactions among his fans — even if the two performances which ignited the aforementioned fan reactions were separated by 58 years.

A special surprise performance last Saturday during the 2023 Farm Aid event at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, illustrated that point.

When Bob Dylan played an electric guitar onstage for the first time — except for his high school days— on the outdoor stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, some folk music fans loudly booed him.

They considered Dylan's playing an electric guitar while backed by a rock band instead of continuing with his previous persona as a folk music troubadour as a betrayal to their values — as if Dylan should continue to give them what they wanted instead of following his own artistic vision.

But when Dylan delivered a surprise unbilled and unannounced — even unintroduced — three-song set at the 2023 Farm Aid last Saturday, fans in the audience were ecstatic to see something they hadn't seen in years — Dylan once again hoisting an electric guitar, this time a Fender Telecaster.

During Dylan's so-called Never Ending Tour in recent years, he's stayed behind his piano, except for an occasional stroll to the front of the stage, where he stands at the microphone, sometimes singing, sometimes blowing a harmonica solo.

What may have been even more surprising is that during his Farm Aid performance last Saturday, Dylan played a three-song set of some of his greatest songs from the 1960s: "Maggie's Farm," "Positively 4th Street" and "Ballad of a Thin Man," delivering relatively straightforward but energized renditions — refraining from altering his songs until they were almost unrecognizable as he's been known to do at times.

Another surprise for those close enough to recognize the band members is they included three members of Tom Petty's band The Heartbreakers — the band which backed Dylan at his last live appearance on a Farm Aid concert stage back in 1985.

This time, Dylan came onstage in a dramatically-subdued fashion, which must have amazed the huge Farm Aid audience. I'm sure they wondered what was happening when the stage darkened after Neil Young's four-song set, with Willie Nelson the next act on the bill.

Those who were there said the stage remained dark for about 15 minutes, with another band obviously setting up, unrecognizable to most in the low lighting.

When the stage lights did come up, they revealed Bob Dylan standing at the microphone with — surprise of surprises — an electric guitar strapped around his neck. I caught the performance on a video post shortly after it happened, and at the time, I had no idea what Dylan was about to do.

Again, without any introduction, Dylan and the band ripped into, fittingly, "Maggie's Farm," beginning with its famed line "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more."

Along with lead guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist extraordinaire Benmont Tench, the band included Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone. Rounding out the group out were two members of Campbell's current band, The Dirty Knobs, including Chris Holt on guitar and bassist Lance Morrison.

As the song neared its end, Campbell and Dylan shared a single microphone to sing the phrase "no, no more."

Dylan then sat on a high stool behind him. As Tench hit the opening organ intro to "Positively 4th Street," those who were there said the crowd was ecstatic.

Tench, who has played on several Dylan albums, made the song instantly recognizable with his keyboard work, then Dylan came in with his opening line "You've got a lot of nerve, to say you are my friend."

For the next and last song, Dylan and band broke into a minor-keyed riff which I instantly recognized as the opening to "Ballad of a Thin Man," with its memorable refrain, "You know something is happening here but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"

Dylan delivered a memorable rendition of his 1965 classic. Then as the song began to wind down, and Campbell appeared to be leading the band to end it, Dylan began picking some riffs on his guitar. At first I thought he was delivering a few signature licks for a big finish as the song ended, but then it took a different direction, as Dylan headed toward a full-blown solo.

Campbell quickly picked up on Dylan's vibe and musically signaled the band to kick in again, following Dylan's lead.

Then the song ended; the lights once again went low and Dylan and band left the stage, where they were followed by Willie Nelson's performance.

Dylan, as many I'm sure remember, directly inspired Willie to start Farm Aid 38 years ago. During Dylan's 1985 performance at Live Aid in Philadelphia — where he was backed by Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — Dylan said he hoped some of the Live Aid money could be used to benefit American farmers in danger of losing their land.

Willie jumped on the suggestion, and soon joined by Neil Young and John Mellencamp, started the annual concert series designed to benefit American farmers.

Since Dylan has stuck to playing piano and harmonica during his recent touring years, some speculated he could no longer play guitar, perhaps due to arthritis — but I remained doubtful of that theory.

I figured all those concerts of Dylan playing piano but never picking up a guitar was another example of Dylan being Dylan. I thought it might be his way of trying to improve on the instrument — much like somebody trying to learn Spanish insisting on speaking only Spanish around the dinner table.

Dylan has played piano for much of his life — including a very brief pre-fame stint playing piano for then-teen idol Bobby Vee, who Dylan hooked up with in the Midwest before the then-Robert Zimmerman ever traveled to New York to try and make it as a folksinger.

Although Dylan hadn't yet changed his name from Robert Zimmerman at the time, he didn't use that name either during his short-lived stint as Bobby Vee's pianist.

Instead, he want by the name of Elston Gunn, sometimes spelling the last name with three n's — as in Elston Gunnn.

Dylan's — I mean Gunn's — career as a the piano-player in Bobby Vee's band didn't last too long. I would have thought it the stuff of myth if I haven't read interviews with Bobby Vee talking about it.

Vee and his band members said he was a pretty good keyboard player — as long as the songs were played in the key of C. Alas, that shortfall kept the budding musician from finding a permanent spot backing Vee — probably best known for his 1961 #1 hit, "Take Good Care of My Baby" along with "Suzie Baby."

Dylan continued to develop his piano-playing skills through the years, unveiling them for the first time on a recording with his 1964 album,"Another Side of Bob Dylan" on the song "Black Crow Blues." It's one of my favorite deep cuts of early Dylan, which showed he had a distinctive keyboard style, even then.

He played piano even more on his 1970 LP, "New Morning" — heralded even they as one of many Dylan "comeback" albums.

After Zimmerman-Gunn lost his gig with Bobby Vee, he made that fabled trip to New York City — both to visit his musical hero, Oklahoma's Woody Guthrie, who was hospitalized in New Jersey, and also to try and make it as a folksinger.

As Dylan started to make inroads, performing around the city and signing a record deal with Columbia Records in 1961, Bobby Vee and his band rolled into NYC.

With the group having some down time between performances, one of Vee's band members decided to check out this hot new folksinger named Bob Dylan.

When Vee's band member returned, others asked him how he had liked the Bob Dylan performance.

Vee recalled that the guy seemed kind of confused.

He said Dylan had delivered a great performance — but the guy singing onstage was their former band member, Elston Gunn!