‘O Little Town of Bet Lechem’?
Renowned Hibbing, Minnesota native Bob Dylan is set to confound his fans once more.
BullyPulpit.com reports:
Bob Dylan is recording his first Christmas album, Bullypulpit.com has exclusively learned and has been quietly compiling a collection that includes both Christmas carols and modern songs. At least four songs have reportedly been recorded for the album including, “Must Be Santa,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
The story mentions that Dylan has been recording at Jackson Browne’s Groove Master’s Studios in Santa Monica, Calif.
“A source close to Dylan told Reuters that the project is ‘a possibility,’ and more information will be revealed in two or three weeks,” the Washington Post reported last week, and added that “Dylan joins a music business tradition of Jewish artists who release Christmas-themed albums, including Neil Diamond and Phil Spector. Irving Berlin, who wrote the yuletide classic ‘White Christmas,’ was also Jewish. Dylan did go through a ‘born again’ Christian phase from 1979-1981, releasing three gospel-style albums including the Grammy-winning Slow Train Coming.”
And in a story only tangentially related to the news of Dylan’s Christmas album, the Jerusalem Post reported that former Dylan sideman Harvey Brooks is making aliya. The bass man who also has played with Miles Davis, Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Stephen Stills, The Doors, et al., tells the newspaper, regarding the big move to the Jewish state:
We’ve been going back and forth for a number of years, and every time we’re here, we’d talk about moving,” said Brooks, whose stepdaughter Lori lives in the Gush Etzion settlement Neveh Daniel. “Our two other kids are secure and established now, and we figured this is the time for us, for an adventure. It’s a good time to come.”
The 65-year-old journeyman musician, who has been living in Tucson with his wife, Bonnie, has recently recorded a new album, Positively 17th Street, and tells the newspaper that he plans to bring musician friends Richie Havens and Eric Anderson to Israel for performances. — Mordecai Specktor
