Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers

A weekly radio program featuring the music of Bob Dylan, his contemporaries, and his antecedents. Broadcast weekly on Thursdays from 8-9 pm PST on KEPW (97.3 FM-LP), available on www.kepw.org. Hosted and produced by Daniel Mackay.

For Apple Podcast users, click HERE.

Amazon Prime & Audible users, click here.

Logo artwork by Selena Dugan-Fields.

Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers aims to present the music of Bob Dylan & his fellow travelers in enriching new contexts, to direct the spotlight on musicians who played with Dylan, to offer something worth thinking about concerning the music, and to do so in a way that keeps you engaged.

The show – which first broadcast February 28, 2019 – features two recurring segments: “20 Pounds of Headlines: Your News From the World of Bob Dylan,” which rounds up Bob Dylan-related news from the preceding week, and also “Who Did It Better?” where you are asked to vote for which of two different musicians performed a better version of a song associated with Dylan. You can vote in the “Who Did It Better?” poll on the Twitter page for Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers, accessible below. Polls remain live for one week after the broadcast of the episode in which they are featured and results are announced on air in the following episode.

Tweets by RainTrains

Fellow Travelers

Can you identify all the singers above? Scroll down to test your knowledge.

How did you do in identifying the singers in the photo header above?

Bob Dylan (b. 1941)
Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933)
Hank Williams (1923-1953)
Robert Johnson (1911-1938)
Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)
Clydie King (1943-2019)
Lauryn Hill (b. 1975)
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Blind Willie McTell (1898-1959)
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
Jerry Garcia (1942-1995)
Gillian Welch (b. 1967)

Co-founders of *Hard Rain & Slow Train*s: Jeff & Dan.

Ms. Maria tells you what she really thinks of *Rolling Stone’s* new list of 500 Greatest Albums in the 10/15/2020 episode, “All Those Who’ve Sailed With Me” (*left*) and Miss Lucy reads from a book of poems written by an Italian poet from the thirteenth century before asking you, “Who Did It Better?” (*right*)

The Slow Train rolls into the Eugene Train Station across the street from KEPW just as *Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers* first broadcasts in February of 2019.

Miss Lucy, Jeff, and Dan in the KEPW studio, 2019.

Where to Get Started

Of course, you can just listen to the most recent episode of Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers. But, here are some highlights from over the years:

9/20/2020: “An Episode to Play For Your Friends That Don’t Like Bob Dylan But Wish They Could!” because we all have such friends, maybe many, or maybe it might even be you. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
The 12-part series “Cities Where Bob Dylan Recorded” from February 11, 2021 to April 29, 2021 because this geographical survey of Dylan’s recordings yields some unexpected insights:
1. Part One: London. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
2. Part Two: Mexico City. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
3. Part Three: Minneapolis. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
4. Part Four: New Orleans. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
5. Part Five: Miami. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
6. Part Six: Sheffield, Alabama. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
7. Part Seven: Nashville. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
8. Part Eight: Woodstock. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
9. Part Nine: Topanga & Santa Monica. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
10. Part Ten: Malibu. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
11. Part Eleven: Los Angeles. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
12. Part Twelve: New York City. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
12/31/2020: “‘The Turning of the Page’: 2020 in Review” because it contains the “Murder Most Foul” soundscape! Apple Podcast, click HERE.
The 6-part series, “All Those Who’ve Sailed With Me: Bob Dylan & His Bands” because it gives some much-deserved attention to the many talented musicians with whom Dylan has played over the years:
1. Part One: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Band. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
2. Part Two: 1975 & 1976 Rolling Thunder Review, Alpha Band, 1979-1981 Gospel Band, & Little Feat. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
3. Part Three: 1978 World Tour & 1984 European Tour. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
4. Part Four: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers & The Grateful Dead. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
5. Part Five: 1988-2002. Apple Podcast, click HERE.
6. Part Six: 2003-2019. Apple Podcast, click HERE.

Dylanopoly!

Can you identify the over 50 Bob Dylan song references in this clever video made by fellow traveler, Paul Cooper? Note this video does not have sound…so listen to some Hard Rain & Slow Trains while watching it! You can tweet us at our Twitter page if you have questions about any Dylan references within it.

About Daniel Mackay

I first began listening to Bob Dylan in January of 1989 after seeing and hearing Peter, Paul, & Mary sing “The Times They Are-A Changin’” in Murray Lerner’s film of the Newport Folk Festival, Festival! Even as I was discovering that many songs with which I was already familiar were written by Dylan, I acquired The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Greatest Hits, and Highway 61 Revisited. I was hooked.

I have since seen Dylan fifty-eight times in concert, and hope to see him many times more. My favorite Dylan song is “Every Grain of Sand,” my favorite Dylan concert took place on December 17, 1995 in Philadelphia. My favorite Dylan album is the last one I listened to and my favorite fellow traveler is Mississippi John Hurt, followed shortly thereafter by Gillian Welch.

No doubt because of Dylan’s influence, I studied English Literature, eventually earning a PhD and going on to teach literature and writing at college. My dissertation examined both Walt Whitman and also twentieth-century American poetry.

Long ago, I moved to “the great north woods” of Oregon after completing some graduate work in New York City, where I authored a book on role-playing games (The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art). I teach here and started Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers in February of 2019 with Jeff. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March of 2020 I began to produce the show by myself. I am also a contributor and editor of Olof Björner’s marvelous online resource, About Bob.