My next project: Restoring the Forest Hills '65 concert. This is considered by many to be Dylan's best-ever concert. I just released a remastered version of "Desolation Row" from Forest Hills and will be working on the rest of the show soon. It is an incredible version. You can hear the wind howling in the microphone. The audience is on the edge of their seats. Take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO7w1...
Photo attached: One of only a handful of photographs from the acoustic set at Forest Hills. Taken by Ken Regan.
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"The 1966 Hotel Tapes" premieres at 7:30pm PST tonight. My goal here was to create something that could have been a lost Dylan album, full of uninterrupted, brilliant songs, sounds, and lyrics that were bouncing around his brain in 1966. I would bet that Dylan would have recorded some of these songs if it weren't for his inevitable touring burnout and eventual "motorcycle accident". By the time he wanted to record again (which would have been The Basement Tapes), he was likely in a different artistic mindset--and as we all know, he doesn't look back. In other words, half-baked masterpieces such as "I Can't Leave Her Behind" and "If I Was a King" were hatching in the wrong place at the wrong time; they were destined to be looked over and scrapped. At least, that's my opinion.
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Just released! This is the first time these recordings have been heard in over 70 years, and the earliest home recording of Rev. Gary Davis, predating this famous Smithsonian Folkways release: folkways.si.edu/reverend-gary-davis/if-i-had-my-waâŚ
I will be releasing Bob Dylan's Hotel Tapes in the next few days. Stay tuned!
watch video on watch page
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Got something brewing! Stay tuned.
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What a month it's been! Ellen and I have been sifting through mountains of photographs and tapes. Shockingly, we came across a 1951 home recording of Reverend Gary Davis... which we now believe to be the earliest home recordings of him. Previously, the earliest recordings known were from 1953, released by Folkways Recordings in the mid-2000s. This tape was almost lost to time.
Here is the story in Ellen's words:
How did this tape get into my âarchiveâ of tapes that Iâve dragged through a long life of folksongs? I am not certain, but I think it was recorded that day in 1951... when a group of seven fellow students that our classmate, John Cohen, had pulled together, were insinuating ourselves into a sedan meant for about 4 of us and Johnâs treasured recording machine. Crowded it was, a foreshadowing of how the day would go.
We met Gary Davis in the Bronx as he was coming home from singing in the streets of the city. He invited us all up to his nearby apartment. It was almost as small as Johnâs car. We piled into the living room space, moving the one large table in the middle to one wall, giving anyone coming into the room only space to crawl under or squeeze past it.
Gary played, and played. Even though he sang mostly church songs, it made little difference to us â his playing, the âmusic,â was right out of the traditions of street singers and blues players. He had been working all day, but he loved playing, and he was amazing. How in the world, I wondered, could one person do all that on a single guitar? How could he get that running base and also the melodies (in harmony, to boot) on the upper strings?
To me, he was a phenomenon. His music offered glimpses of other places I realized I had to visit and understand.
A few weeks later, John gave me this tape you hear now. He knew I wanted to listen to that day again. I never imagined that the next time I would see Reverend Gary Davis in person would be in 1962 at the Swarthmore Folk Festival, when he and I would share a two-part concert.
I saw Davis mesmerize other musicians; he became much respected in the early days of the Folksong Revival in NYC, but he might have been just a bit too early for the time major black musicians took to the Revival Stage. It was a very white world, those early days.
I kept Johnâs tape with others I treasured, and escaped to another world of entertainment, complete with egos, stars, rumors, and a jargon all its own. The years of education I received in that other world were hardly more profound than the education I received that one crowded day in the Bronx.
- Ellen Stekert
Ellen deserves a medal for preserving this tape recording. I have just uploaded one track, and the complete tape will be uploaded in the next couple of days.
Want to support us? Please subscribe to my Patreon and purchase Ellen's songs on Bandcamp:
ellenstekert.bandcamp.com/
patreon.com/swinginpig
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Howdy folks! This is Ross Wylde, creator of Swingin' Pig. In the words of Mark Twain, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". I am alive and well. In 2021, I decided to temporarily move on from this project. I was tired of dealing with the constant copyright issues and the YouTube drama, and my life became too busy for passion projects. I needed to focus on my college studies and my own musical career.
I will be reviving this channel soon. Going forward, not as many Dylan videos will be posted due to copyright difficulties. I do not want this channel to be terminated. However, I plan to post some complete recordings of the original "Trade Mark of Quality" bootleg records, which this channel is an homage to. I probably have close to 100 pristine copies waiting to be transferred to digital.
I also recently started working with a wonderful woman named Ellen Stekert, who is a veteran of the folk revival period. She is listed in Dylan's autobiography as one of his early inspirations. Dylan even asked her out after attending one of her gigs in 1964 (flyer below). Ellen has a gigantic archive of recorded material, which I am working to digitize and remaster for release. Her first album since 1958 will be released this Friday on all platforms. I encourage you to support this amazing artist by streaming or purchasing her music.
She has given me permission to post her never-before-heard recordings of Dave Van Ronk, Jean Ritchie, Rosalie Sorrels, and many others. Keep an eye out.
Finally, if you would like to support this project, please consider becoming one of my patrons. When I started Swingin' Pig, I was a teenager living in my family home. Now that I'm making my own way in the world, I need to pay the bills. I do not get any ad revenue from YouTube. While I wish I had the resources and time to continue this work for free, I do not. Running a YouTube channel is incredibly time-consuming, and without some kind of income from it, I won't be able to keep it up. If you have the means, I would greatly appreciate a subscription to my Patreon: patreon.com/swinginpig?utm_medium=unknown&utm_sourâŚ
More to come. Thanks to everyone here who has supported me and my mission over the years.
Love & Peace,
SP
PS Give a listen to the podcast "Nothing Is Revealed", available on all platforms. I was interviewed on the episode "Swingin' Pig Revisited". Fantastic podcast and wonderful hosts. Can't thank them enough for having me on.
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As you know, Swingin' Pig is a free service. If you have the means, please support me by purchasing my new album "2nd Impressions": www.amazon.com/2nd-Impressions-Explicit-Ross-WyldeâŚ
You can also see/hear my material with the links below:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/1cYZa5DjB9rgy4mkLYjUHf?si=2âŚ
Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_pianoman/
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCM4qy_oC...
Love & Peace,
~Ross Wylde aka SP
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Coming tomorrow is a 6-minute restored version of Dylan's immaculate unreleased creation, "I Can't Leave Her Behind", recorded with Robbie Robertson in 1966. This will be an edit of the original source tape, in which Dylan and Robertson pause many times to work out the chord progression. I edited these pauses out to create a more complete, continuous, and polished track. I also upgraded the sound using professional studio software. Hope you enjoy the final product.
Peace & Love,
~SP
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Unfortunately, the rehearsal version of "I Want You" from MTV Unplugged has been taken down for copyright reasons. However, tomorrow I will be uploading a 4K remaster of Bob playing "Talkin' World War III Blues" live in 1964. Stay tuned!
Love & Peace,
~SP
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The Santa Monica concert will be premiering at 5pm PST.
Peace & Love,
~SP
watch video on watch page
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Mission: To make rare and historically valuable recordings accessible to everyone.
Running a YouTube channel is incredibly time-consuming and I do not make any revenue from it. If you would like to support this project, please consider donating to my Patreon: patreon.com/swinginpig?utm_medium=unknown&utm_âŚ