On April 12, Dave Stewart will release a Bob Dylan tribute album. This limited-edition Record Store Day offering will present 14 songs recorded live and unedited. Dave Does Dylan reflects a friendship and professional relationship that began in 1985.

Stewart recalls, “I received a phone call from Bob Dylan while I was in the studio in Los Angeles. At first, I thought it was my friend joking when the receptionist said ‘Bob Dylan on the phone for you,’ but I could tell as soon as he spoke, it was Bob. We met up that night and we talked about everything; films, music, life, etc… and we ended up in a great Mexican place in South L.A.

“He knew everybody and he said, ‘hey, why don’t we make a video tomorrow or the next day?’ It was already two in the morning, but I agreed and I helped make various videos with him during which we became great friends. Years later, I filmed “Blood In My Eyes,” which is a video I shot on two 8mm cameras — just the two of us walking around Camden town.”

photo courtesy of Dave Stewart

Looking back, he also notes, “When I was first learning the guitar, I was about 14 or 15 years old — which would’ve been like 1964 or ’65. I was insistent on getting into folk clubs, but I looked about 12 years old, so they kept me out for a while. Then one chap, Mick Elliot, took pity and allowed me to play at The George & Dragon which became the center of the folk music scene in my hometown, Sunderland N.E. England, in the 1960’s. It was like stepping into a sacred room where visionaries and rebels converged — actually, it was simply a room upstairs in a pub full of older folk singers, beer, whisky and cigarette smoke everywhere. I was allowed to sing two songs, so I would play Bob Dylan songs from his albums that my brother had left behind when he went to college.

“The audience was always a bit shocked that this kid, who looked so young, was singing these lyrics — especially in that kind of folk club. It was mostly old folk music that was being played from the local area about the coal mines and about the shipyards, which I loved too…and Dylan would have loved also. I started to sing and play these Dylan songs anywhere I could; in other folk clubs, even on the street all over the north east of England. From then on, I got every Bob Dylan album — and still do to this day — on Vinyl and in every possible variation.

On March 22, Stewart will tape an episode of Recorded Live at Analog inside The Hutton Hotel in Nashville. He’ll present the material from Dave Does Dylan, accompanied by strings, pedal steel guitar, and keys. PBS will air the show later this summer and tickets to attend the taping are available here.

TRACKLIST FOR DAVE DOES DYLAN:

Simple Twist Of Fate

I Want You

Emotionally Yours

Forever Young

To Ramona

Make You Feel My Love

Lay, Lady, Lay

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Spanish Harlem Incident

Shelter From The Storm

She Belongs To Me

Visions Of Johanna