Image courtesy of Will Branch and Lil Rev
When Dylan Met Guthrie - Title Image
In 1961, Bob Dylan trekked from Minnesota to Madison and then on to New York. Greenwich Village was folk music’s epicenter, but the aspiring singer-songwriter had another reason for his East Coast sojourn. He wanted to meet one of his inspirations, Woody Guthrie. Dylan’s pilgrimage to the hospital where Guthrie spent his last years, suffering from Huntington’s disease, opens last year’s film about Dylan’s early career, A Complete Unknown.
The Dylan-Guthrie connection inspired a prominent pair of Wisconsin folksingers, Lil Rev and Will Branch, to compose a show of songs and storytelling, “When Dylan Met Guthrie.”
Rev and Branch have performed together off and on for nearly 40 years. “We met via the Coffee House and the East Side of Milwaukee when we were in our late teens and have been friends ever since. Our kids are best friends and grew up together. He's not just a musical associate but someone very dear to me,” Rev says.
Work on “When Dylan Met Guthrie” began three years ago. “It struck me that there's been a lot written about both of these artists separately, but rarely have their lives been side by side to draw parallels (and differences) between their songs, time period, and live stories,” Rev explains.
Rev and Branch will swap stories, song intros and vocals throughout the show. The music couldn't be timelier. “It was Woody, Bob, Larry Penn, Phil Ochs and others who taught us that music and the pen could be mightier than the sword, and that it could galvanize an entire movement for social change,” Rev continues. “Woody with the Depression and Bob with the Civil Rights era, for example. Both tried to capture epic periods in American history and use their hard-hitting songs to lift up some mighty hard-hit people. The current administration’s march towards fascism today is our cue to rise up singing and Dylan and Guthrie provide a roadmap on how we can face the day and meet the moment.”
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Rev and Branch both saw A Complete Unknown and redoubled their efforts to realize their idea for “When Dylan Met Guthrie.” “This is music we've been digesting and performing for years and it’s not some half-baked attempt to get another gig, it’s a heartfelt rendering of two American songsmiths who helped to inspire countless generations to meet the moment,” Rev says.
Lil Rev and Will Branch will perform “When Dylan Met Guthrie,” 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22 at Anodyne Coffee Roasters, 224 W. Bruce St.
