Dylan on Doug Sahm-- Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that old period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, Shes About a Mover, and I had a hit record [Like a Rolling Stone] at the same time. So we became buddies back then, and we played the same kind of music. We never really broke apart. We always hooked up at certain intervals in our lives ... here and there from time to time. Like Bloomfield, Doug was once a child prodigy too. He was playing fiddle, steel guitar and maybe even saxophone before he was in his teens. Id never met anybody that had played onstage with Hank Williams before, let alone someone my own age. Doug had a heavy frequency, and it was in his nerves. Its like what Charlie Patton says, My God, what solid power. I miss Doug. He got caught in the grind. He should still be here. If there is a guiding spirit to Together Through Life — Dylans 33rd studio album — its the ghost of Doug Sahm. At age 11, Sahm, a San Antonio native, had already recorded his first song, A Real American Joe. By the time he was 13, the Grand Ole Opry offered him a regular gig; his mother disapproved. Eventually, Sahms band — the Sir Douglas Quintet — became the Lone Star answer to the Beatles. The cosmic-cowboy sound was born. An impressed Dylan volunteered to sing harmony and play guitar on Sahms 1973 Doug Sahm and Band as a sign of outsider solidarity; the album remains a weird, loose-grooving and quirky rock & roll classic. Dylan even wrote the lighthearted song Wallflower for it. Bootleg tapes of the Sahm-Dylan sessions now float around the black market. Tejano accordionist Flaco Jiménez anchored that band, Doug Sahm and Friends, back in 1973, just as David Hidalgo is doing with Together Through Life. As late as 1995, Sahm had joined Dylan onstage, in Austin, to play electric guitar on six numbers, including a version of the Grateful Deads Alabama Getaway. Sahm told the Texas audience that Dylan was a beautiful friend whom he loved dearly. [Douglas Brinkley interview May 2009]
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 09:47:21 +0000
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