Bob Dylan Hired a New Guitar Player, but Big Questions Linger

Bob Dylan‘s June 29 show at the Moody Amphitheater in Austin was supposed to just be a standard stop on a long tour that’s scheduled to run through the end of the year. But after guitarist Doug Lancio left the band two weeks ago, replacement Julian Lage had a prior commitment in Brooklyn that night, and second guitarist Bob Britt suddenly quit the group with a “Sayonara Bobby” Facebook post a couple of days earlier, nobody knew who may be joining Dylan, bassist Tony Garnier, and drummer Anton Fig that night.

In the fan community, speculation ran wild: Might Jimmie Vaughan step into the void? Would Lancio return? Was there any chance that a beloved past member of Dylan’s group like Larry Campbell or G.E. Smith would come back for an encore run? Was there a scenario where Dylan, Garnier, and Fig play as a Ben Folds Five-style trio? Could Britt pull a reverse “sayonara” and come back to help Dylan out of his jam? And would Dylan have just one guitarist in the band for the first time since the John Jackson days of 1991, or might we see the debut of two new members?

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The answer came when the lights dimmed and Chicago-based blues guitarist Joel Paterson walked onto the stage to make his debut with Dylan’s band, and faced the difficult task of handling all of the guitar parts by himself. Paterson is hardly a household name, but he has a long history on the Chicago blues scene and has recorded with Dave “Honey Boy” Edwards, Wanda Jackson, Cactus Blossoms, and JD McPherson.

Up until this week, Paterson played every Monday with his jazz quartet at the historic Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Chicago, which seats just about 150 people. He last performed there Saturday, June 27, two days before his debut with Dylan. Hours before Paterson made his debut with Dylan, his Joel Paterson Quartet bandmate Natalie Scharf wrote on Facebook that he’d be absent from the Monday gig for the next two or three weeks, and guitarist Andy Brown would take his place. She didn’t mention that he was about to play “All Along the Watchtower” and 15 other songs with Dylan at a 5,000-seat amphitheater in Austin.

According to early fan reports, Paterson did a stellar job with Dylan, and seemed remarkably confident. It’s unclear how much time he had to prepare for the gig, or when he learned that Britt wouldn’t be up there to help him. It’s also unclear how familiar he was with Dylan’s music, but he did play pedal steel on four Dylan songs (“If Not for You,” “To Ramona,” “When to See the Gypsy,” and “Tell Me That It Isn’t True”) on the 2022 Cactus Blossoms EP Bob Dylan Songs Vol. 1.

Not long before showtime, Britt posted a more detailed explanation of his exit from Dylan’s band on Facebook. “Apparently there are quite a few threads out there with people speculating about my departure from the Bob tour,” he wrote. “I’d like to clear it up. I was not fired but left of my own accord for reasons I would prefer to keep private. I will miss my band mates and crew. I am looking forward to getting back to doing sessions (give me a call) and also finishing up [my wife] Etta’s gospel record. As far as any touring goes, we will see what the future holds. Meanwhile, I have some flower beds to weed.”

He hasn’t written anything else, but his wife has revealed slightly more on her Facebook page. “Yes, but not because of Julian [Lage],” Etta wrote when asked if Bob left the band. “Julian has gone back to his tour. He enjoyed playing with him and said he’s a great guy.” Later in the comment thread, she wrote “word is he’s coming back” in reference to Lage.

We have also learned that Lage indeed plans on playing additional dates with Dylan this year when his schedule permits. He couldn’t make the show in Austin because he was booked at National Sawdust in Brooklyn for an hourlong Q&A with The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson, followed by an acoustic performance. Throughout the entire event, Dylan’s name was never uttered once. It seemed to take place in an alternate universe where Lage didn’t just wrap up a surprise stint with one of the most important artists of the century. (I was in the front row and put my hand high into the air during the Q&A portion. I was going to ask a multipart question that went something like, “You just spent a couple of weeks on tour with Bob Dylan. How did that come about, what was the experience like, and do you plan on going back?” But they never called on me. I felt like Tracy Flick in Election, desperately trying to get the attention of the teacher and failing miserably.)

Dylan’s tour resumes Tuesday night in New Braunfels, Texas. The U.S. leg wraps up Aug. 1 in Nashville. Lage’s schedule makes it possible for him to make every show besides the July 4 gig in Kansas City, Missouri. Things get trickier when Dylan goes to Europe in October, since Lage is booked up solid that month in America.

Nobody knows exactly how this will play out. Paterson could be a temporary replacement and will soon be back to his Monday-night gig at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. He might stick around as the sole guitarist. Dylan might hire a replacement for Britt, keep Paterson on a permanent basis, and return to the standard two-guitar lineup. Lage might parachute in and out when his schedule allows, leaving Paterson to handle the show by himself some nights.

We simply have no idea. What we can say is that the Never Ending Tour hasn’t seen this much drama in a very long time.