Forever young: Locals sing out for Bob Dylan’s 80th

What more can one say about Bob Dylan? He has 10 Grammy Awards scattered around his Malibu home (the one with the golden dome), an Academy Award he takes on stage when he’s on tour (for “Things Have Changed,” from the film “Wonder Boys”), and the Nobel Prize for Literature (though he’s almost exclusively a songwriter).

But those are barely relevant to the reason some 20 performers – some well-known, some less so – will gather at Murphy’s Irish Pub on Saturday, May 22, to honor Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday. The celebrants will be singing, strumming and picking his songs from a 60-year career of over 600 songs - because he has given every one of them a great song that they can sing.

For Tim Curley, who is producing the gathering of talent and kicking off the show at 7:30 p.m., “The main thing he’s got going for him is he’s from Minnesota. My dad grew up in Minnesota and I’ve always had this thing about Minnesota,” said Curley in one of those matter-of-fact ways that is beyond suspicion. (Still, confesses the Index-Tribune music columnist, he’s never been to Minnesota).

“When I found out he’s turning 80, I thought, well, I should do something,” said Curley. “I was at Murphy’s (Irish Pub) on a Monday night, sitting with some of the folks, and I said we should do a Bob Dylan night.” Inviting the regulars from the pub’s Monday open mic, and a long list of longshots, “I put it out to 40 musicians, and half responded.”

Curley’s own affection for Dylan started sometime in the mid-1960s, after the Beatles hit it big, in that bountifully talented era.

“’Baby Let Me Follow You Down’ was the first song I learned with more than three chords,” Curley said, though the arrangement of the traditional song was by Erich Von Schmidt. “Ever since then I’ve been following his career.”

Curley will open the show and do a duet with west county’s own Shannon Rider, then it’s off to the races: well-known locals like Jeff Falconer, Tim Eschliman, Stuart Tietelbaum and Adam Traum among many others will take the stage for a single song, maybe two, then make way for the next. Though the plan for this local “Bobfest” (a term coined 30 years ago by Neil Young on the occasion of Dylan’s 30th anniversary tribute) originated between tunes at the Monday night open-mic night at Murphy’s, word soon spread and invitations were extended.

Banana shows up first on the alphabetical list of 26 performers (though the usual “special guests!” are promised), he of the late 1960s band the Youngbloods. He met Curley at a guitar show at the Marin Civic Center, and was willing to come up to Sonoma and play for the event. “Sure,” he said, “that sounds like fun.”

Many of the performers are regulars at the Monday open mic at Murphy’s, as well as the more recognizable names and performers from local stages. “We have some people that are amateurs, and some that are professionals. These folks are doing it for the love,” said Curley.

Jeff Falconer, half of the acoustic duo Dino and J-Dub, plans to perform “Dear Landlord,” from Dylan’s cryptic 1968 “John Wesley Harding” LP. He said he heard of Dylan before he heard him – “His name was out there in the wind,” he said appropriately.

Falconer said, though Dylan songs were never an exclusive part of his repertoire, they’re always rewarding to play. “Musically, he does interesting, strange things with chords, but most people can pick out his songs. They’re entertaining to play for the same reason they’re fun to listen to – they’re so rich.”

Adam Traum has the sort of six-degrees-of-separation relationship with Dylan many musicians crave, though in his case it’s more like two degrees, or none at all. His father Happy Traum played on Dylan’s 1971 version of “I Shall Be Released,” which is only sorta cool, compared to what happened one night in upstate New York, in about 1983.

“I was about 16, and this high school friend of mine, Jack, was staying with me – he was one of the biggest Dylan fans in the country. Me and Jack were jamming in my bedroom and hear a knock on the door, and it’s Dylan.

“’Hey, mind if I sit in?’ He picked up a bass and played a few tunes with us, then said, ‘Hey, you’re pretty good.’”

The May 22 show – in fact two days before Dylan’s 80th birthday – gets underway in the alley stage in front of Murphy’s at 7:30 p.m. No reservations, no cover, and if you get there late, there’ll be no room.

Some of the invited won’t be able to make it, or just won’t. Curley dug up a number for Joan Baez and gave her a ring, but he was too late: she’s busy that weekend, being an honoree at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

And if you’re wondering, no, Bob Dylan won’t be there – he last performed in December, 2019, so his voice is a little rusty.

Email Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.