Off the Grid: Doin' It Dylan

Charlie Daniels was once an in-demand session musician who played on a few Bob Dylan albums. More than 40 years later, he's recorded his own interpretations of Dylan’s famous songs. It’s not so surprising to hear just how easily Dylan’s music fits Daniels’ country-fired sound. Many of Dylan’s tunes are based in country music; “Country Pie” and “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” were already more than halfway there. But Daniels takes a good chunk out of “Tangled Up in Blue” to make it his own. “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall,”*** and “Just Like a Woman” all sound as if they were written for Daniels, despite their metrics and sentiments being from a less traditional format. Expectedly, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “I Shall Be Released,” and “Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)” all easily fall into Daniels’ wheelhouse, with the first two bringing out his gospel side and “Quinn” leading to a full-on fiddle-fest and jamboree. Daniels emphasizes Dylan's music in ways that few musicians dare and, in return, finds himself fully engaged and invigorated.