Pledging My Time

Pledging My Time"More fine stories than you can count" Greil Marcus Collecting over 40 original, in depth interviews, Pledging My Time is the first look at Bob Dylans career entirely from the perspective of the musicians standing a few feet away from him on stage from his earliest days in the 60s all the way through the 21st century Never Ending Tour. With a few exceptions, these artists are not household names, but they have in many cases spent years making music

"More fine stories than you can count" Ñ Greil Marcus

Collecting over 40 original, in-depth interviews, Pledging My Time is the first look at Bob DylanÕs career entirely from the perspective of the musicians standing a few feet away from him on stage Ð from his earliest days in the Ô60s all the way through the 21st century Never Ending Tour. With a few exceptions, these artists are not household names, but they have in many cases spent years making music with one of the most revered and mysterious artists in the world.

The world of DylanÕs bands and his road life has seemed fairly impenetrable for decades now. Many people in this book have never spoken before about their time with Dylan, or certainly not in as much depth. Interviewees span every era of DylanÕs career, from RamblinÕ Jack Elliott and Martin Carthy talking about the early folk scene up through Benmont Tench and Alan Pasqua talking about recording Rough and Rowdy Ways. This guest list guiding the backstage tour also includes one-off sit-ins, behind- the-scenes touring personnel, and even a notable Grammy Awards stage-crasher.

If Dylan is, as he famously put it back in 1965, a Òsong and dance man,Ó these are the people who have sung and danced alongside him.

Praise for Pledging My Time:

"Ray Padgett is the ideal interviewerÑhe really knows his stuff, so he can draw the best out of every musician he talks to. This is a tremendous collection of acute, revealing, often funny stories from those whoÕve played on stage with Bob Dylan." Ñ Michael Gray

"There already is an endless supply of books about Bob Dylan in the world. What could possibly be written now that seems fresh, much less indispensable? Enter Ray Padgett, one of the great modern Dylanologists, who has done the LordÕs work of tracking down BobÕs many collaborators over the years and getting the inside story. The result is insightful, fascinating, hilarious, illuminating, and, yes, indispensable." Ñ Steven Hyden

"These talks open up like running streams. There seems to be no guile, no self-promotion, no agendas: maybe because Ray Padgett doesnÕt either. ThereÕs less I Was There than Ôand then I wasnÕtÕÑand more fine stories than you can count. I love Louis Kemp on negotiating with Walter YetnikoffÑeven if he does have a 13-year-old Bob Dylan singing Jerry Lee Lewis and Chubby Checker in 1954." Ñ Greil Marcus