Preserving Freedom of speech is the theme for the 4-CD set honoring Bob Dylan which gets richer with each listening

The artists on Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, the monumental anthem to freedom of speech, talk about why they worked for no fees the project and what Dylan means to them.

It’s good to remember that Human Rights is not a luxury in a time when most of us are consumed with worry about jobs and the economy. 

Personally, no one means sings more convincingly about personal freedom and human rights that Bob Dylan. He is a keeper of the flame of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and all the artists that went before him.

Even after Dylan left overt protest songs, the theme of freedom of one’s soul from tyranny is a thread throughout his career.

On the Basement Tapes in 1967 Dylan recorded the anthemic I Shall Be Released with Richard Manual crying out –

I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released (copyright Bob Dylan)

On Modern Times Dylan in 2005, Dylan was still singing about the average person in Workingman’s Blues #2.

There’s an evenin’ haze settlin’ over the town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin’ power of the proletariat’s gone down
Money’s gettin’ shallow and weak
The place I love best is a sweet memory
It’s a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad (copyright Bob Dylan)

The fact that Dylan connects with young people amazes. When I saw Dylan in Pittsfield in the Berkshires of Massachusetts in 2005, the audience was a mix of greying boomers and 17 year olds, up from Boston.  Dylan connected with the young people. They were just discovering him, often without the encouragement of their parents. I enjoyed talking to teenagers in the crowd before the show just as they wanted to share with someone who was there in 1964.

When I was playing at the Baba’s Open Mic where no one in the audience was over 30, they knew the songs. I kept getting requests for Dylan material that I was only vaguely familiar with.

That connection is clearly evident on Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan. Sure there are the aging boomer artists who are my cohorts but also dozens of young indie artists that I’d never heard of. It’s a musical education listening to them and learning about their work.

As you dive into the 4-CD set, the richness of the performances becomes evident. The artists are re-interpreting Dylan in their own voice through their own eyes. As they do, the album is more than a collection of songs to raise money for Amnesty International. It’s a bridge between the idealism of the 1930s and 1940s, the 1960s and today.

Set List

CD1
Raphael Saadiq ‘Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat’
Patti Smith ‘Drifter’s ‘Escape’
Rise Against ‘Ballad of Hollis Brown’
Tom Morello ‘The Nightwatchman ‘Blind Willie McTell’
Pete Townshend ‘Corrina, Corrina’
Bettye LaVette ‘Most of the Time’
Charlie Winston ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’
Diana Krall ‘Simple Twist of Fate’
Brett Dennen ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’
Mariachi El Bronx ‘Love Sick’
Ziggy Marley ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’
The Gaslight Anthem ‘Changing of the Guards’
Silversun Pickups ‘Not Dark Yet’
My Morning Jacket ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’
The Airborne Toxic Event ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’
Sting ‘Girl from the North Country’
Mark Knopfler ‘Restless Farewell’

CD2
Queens Of The Stone Age ‘Outlaw Blues’
Lenny Kravitz ‘Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35’
Steve Earle & Lucia Micarelli ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ (Valley Below)
Blake Mills ‘Heart Of Mine’
Miley Cyrus ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’
Billy Bragg ‘Lay Down Your Weary Tune’
Elvis Costello ‘License to Kill’
Angelique Kidjo ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’
Natasha Bedingfield ‘Ring Them Bells’
Jackson Browne ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’
Joan Baez ‘Seven Curses’ (Live)
The Belle Brigade ‘No Time To Think’
Sugarland ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ (Live)
Jack’s Mannequin ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’
Oren Lavie ‘4th Time Around’
Sussan Deyhim ‘All I Really Want To Do’
Adele ‘Make You Feel My Love’ (Recorded Live at WXPN)

CD3
K’NAAN ‘With God On Our Side’
Ximena Sariñana ‘I Want You’
Neil Finn with Pajama Club ‘She Belongs to Me’
Bryan Ferry ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’
Zee Avi ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’
Carly Simon ‘Just Like a Woman’
Flogging Molly ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’
Fistful Of Mercy ‘Buckets Of Rain’
Joe Perry ‘Man Of Peace’
Bad Religion ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’
My Chemical Romance ‘Desolation Row’ (Live)
RedOne featuring Nabil Khayat ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
Paul Rodgers & Nils Lofgren ‘Abandoned Love’
Darren Criss featuring Chuck Criss and Freelance Whales ‘New Morning’
Cage the Elephant ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’
Band of Skulls ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’
Sinéad O’Connor ‘Property of Jesus’
Ed Roland and The Sweet Tea Project ‘Shelter From The Storm’
Ke$ha ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’
Kronos Quartet ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’

CD4
Maroon 5 ‘I Shall Be Released’
Carolina Chocolate Drops ‘Political World’
Seal & Jeff Beck ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
Taj Mahal ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’
Dierks Bentley ‘Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)’ (Live)
Mick Hucknall ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)’
Thea Gilmore ‘I’ll Remember You’
State Radio ‘John Brown’
Dave Matthews Band ‘All Along the Watchtower’ (Live)
Michael Franti ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’
We Are Augustines ‘Mama, You Been On My Mind’
Lucinda Williams ‘Tryin’ To Get To Heaven’
Kris Kristofferson ‘Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)’
Eric Burdon ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’
Evan Rachel Wood ‘I’d Have You Anytime’
Marianne Faithfull ‘Baby Let Me Follow You Down’ (Live)
Pete Seeger ‘Forever Young’
Bob Dylan ‘Chimes Of Freedom’

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Where to purchase

iTunes
Amnesty International for CD and MP3 downloads