Somewhere along the line, Bob Dylan regained his groove. After bumbling around for much of the ?80s and ?90s (with the exception of Oh Mercy), he rode back into town on 1997?s Time Out Of Mind with songs that expressed the same convictions, complexities, humor and cynicism that his best work always had.
After reconnecting with his roots on two good if niche-y collections of folk and blues (Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong), the songwriter who, to quote music writer and UW professor Craig Werner, “has defined a mostly imaginary generation,” came out swinging once again with an acclaimed, Grammy-winning album and a Best Song Oscar.
Dylan followed up 1997?s out-and-out masterpiece with this year?s excellent Love and Theft, which combines his classic sense of lyricism and beatnik boogie with his affection for genre pieces ranging from rockabilly to vocal jazz.
Another miracle happened in the second half of the last decade –Dylan once again became a great live performer. Perhaps equaled only by the best of his mid-?60s concerts with The Band, his recent performances have been stellar affairs in which the old man reinvents his classics and surprises his audience at every conceivable turn.
He?s singing better than ever, with coherent delivery and a truly magnificent growl of a voice. He has taken to opening not with one of his own songs, but rather an old bluegrass or country gospel piece (on this tour, it?s been Hank Williams? “Wait For The Light To Shine”).
After that he?s liable to play anything from his latest, to his greatest, to his rarest (“If Dogs Run Free” was a strangely brilliant highlight from last year?s Madison show), to more country gospel covers.
His band, featuring the great Texas guitar-slinger Charlie Sexton, seems adept at everything from blistering recreations of chestnuts like “Highway 61 Revisited” or “Drifter?s Escape” to a quiet, beautifully hymn-like “Blowin? In The Wind.”
When performing at the Kohl Center tonight, Bob Dylan is not likely to be the embarrassment that he so often was in the ?80s. He?ll be leading the tightest group of musicians he?s played with since The Band, playing some of the best of one of the deepest and most intriguing catalogues in music history. New material from Love and Theft is likely, as are well-played versions of his old classics and the odd Hank Williams or Stanley Brothers cover.
He?ll rock, he?ll moan, he?ll croon, he?ll holler. It?s a chance to see one of the great American musicians at the top of his game, and it should not be missed.
Bob Dylan performs at the Kohl Center tonight at 7:30 p.m.
