RED RIVER SHORE by BOB DYLAN. Story by Colin Ritchie

Between El Paso and Marfa Texas, 2022

During September and October 2022, my colleague Brian Wise and myself were travelling in America attending a number of music festivals there. A side trip to the Bob Dylan Centre in Tulsa Oklahoma was an incredible and inspiring event for two huge Bob fans.

While driving from El Paso to Marfa in the West Texas desert for the Trans Pecos Festival of Music and Love,  a travelling time of approximately three hours over a distance of 300 plus kms, Brian selected songs from his extensive playlists of many thousands of songs, thus providing a joyous means of passing the time, whether chatting about specific songs played, nominating songs to be played, and even, at times, singing along.

Brian mentioned a favourite Dylan song he played numerous times on repeat during a previous long drive in the USA that provided comfort in his solitude and thought I should hear it.

Brian played Red River Shore for me on repeat a few times, making it obvious it was a song he deeply loved. I must admit, ashamedly, I was not really ‘au fait’ with this particular song. I was not sure why but as an outtake from the Time Out Of Mind album sessions it did not appear on any album until released on The Bootleg Series Volume 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare & Unreleased 1989– 2006  in October 6, 2008  which I did not own.

In the past, Dylan, for whatever reasons, has left off certain recorded tracks for albums from the sessions conducted at the time; Blind Willie McTell and Positively 4^th Street, are obvious examples, and now,Red River Shore joins them. All have become classics in their own right over time. Obviously there will be many more classics to be found amongst Bob’s extensive repertoire, and I suppose this is one of the beauties of a ‘Bootleg’  series of demos, outtakes, and alternative versions – the discovery of new favourites.

The wide open highway from El Paso to Marfa Texas. (Image: CGR)

Jump forward four months and I’m taking advantage of a cold, wet summer’s day with a relaxing session listening to music, in particular Fragments- Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol.17 .

The playlist is making random selections when Red River Shore plays. Immediately it caught my attention, if it needed catching at all! That’s the song Brian repeatedly played while travelling on the desert highway in Texas, I thought to myself, but I wasn’t sure. A quick text message to Brian confirmed it was the song.

There are four different versions of Red River Shore on the Fragments … boxed set, and they are all absolute classics – which one Bob would have chosen to include on Time Out Of Mind would have been a difficult decision to make – perhaps that’s why it’s not there!

Like Brian I was hooked. I played each of the four versions many times at a very loud volume, and they all sounded great. I cannot get over how I’ve missed becoming more familiar with this undoubted classic. Some fabulous players and playing on all the tracks as expected with Bob.

I still cannot make up my mind which version I prefer.

Check out the different versions on the following playlist.

Stereo Story #723

Brian makes a selection while Col takes a photo. West Texas desert. (Image: CGR)

This story was originally published on Almanac Music, an offshoot of The Footy Almanac.

See also Vin Maskell’s Stereo Story about Red River Shore, from 2014.