Although Bob Dylan started giving fewer interviews as he got older, he has remained quite aware of what has been happening in music over the past decades. Fans could see that more recently in his book “The Philosophy of Modern Song”, where he even mentions artists like Ronnie James Dio and The Clash.
Since he is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, many people might believe he is often focused only on his own music and on the artists who influenced him, but that’s not the case. For example, the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of the groups Dylan enjoys. So Rock and Roll Garage selected two of their songs that Bob Dylan has shown he likes.
The 2 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs Bob Dylan likes
“Simple Man”
The first one is “Simple Man,” which Bob Dylan recited a few lines from in the 2020 documentary “Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President“. He used the song to describe his old friend.”It’s impossible to define Jimmy. I think of him as a simple kind of man, like in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. He takes his time, doesn’t live too fast, troubles come but they will pass, find a woman and find love and don’t forget there is always someone above,” Bob Dylan said.
There is an interesting connection between Dylan and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Al Kooper who was part of many of his records as guitarist and pianist, was the producer of Skynyrd’s debut album released in 1973. Besides “Simple Man” mentioned by Dylan, that record also has classics like “Tuesday’s Gone”, “Gimme Three Steps” and “Free Bird”.
He also produced their subsequent records: “Second Helping” (1974) and “Nuthin’ Fancy” (1975). Kooper first played on Dylan’s: “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965), “Blonde on Blonde” (1966), “Self Portrait” (1970), “New Morning” (1970). More than a decade later he returned for “Empire Burlesque” (1985), “Knocked Out Loaded” (1986) and “Under the Red Sky” (1990). During his career Kooper also worked with Roy Orbison and George Harrison, Bob’s bandmates in the Traveling Wilbury’s. Besides them, he also played with Ringo Starr, The Tubes, Roger McGuinn, The Who, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix.
“Free Bird”
The second song is “Free Bird”, also from Skynyrd’s debut record produced by Al Kooper. It’s very common in the United States to hear people shouting during concerts: “Play Free Bird!” and most of the time the musicians ignore the request. But in 2016 Dylan accepted and his band played a part of the classic Skynyrd track.
The performance happened at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. His band performed a part of the song when they were playing “Love Sick”, which was the final song of the setlist that night. The video of the performance shows Dylan rocking the sound of the song.
In his book “Chronicles: Vol 1” (2004), Dylan mentions Skynyrd and Al Kooper when talking about Charlie Daniels. He was part of Bob’s album “Nashville Skyline” and then formed his own Southern Rock/Country Rock band.
“Charlie eventually struck it big. After hearing the Allman Brothers and the side-winding Lynyrd Skynyrd, he’d find his groove and prove himself with his own brand of dynamics, coming up with a new form of hillbilly boogie that was pure genius. Atomic fueled—with surrealistic double fiddle playing and great tunes like ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia.'”
Bob Dylan continued:
“For a time there, Charlie had it all. Al Kooper, who had happened to discover Lynyrd Skynyrd, had played on some of my best records. So I asked Johnston to call him. That was my only suggestion to Johnston as to who to book,” Bob Dylan said.
By the time Skynyrd released their debut album, Bob Dylan had already 12 albums in his discography. The career of the band’s original line-up was tragically cut short after an airplane crash in 1977. The vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, the guitarist Steve Gaines and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines were members of the band who died in the accident.
The group reformed in 1989 with surviving members of the classic line-up, fronted by Johnny, who was Ronnie’s younger brother. The group is still active with no classic members these days since Garry Rossington’s death in 2023.