The musician Bob Dylan said could play anything: “He’s good with me”
Most people would probably consider it to be something of an honour to perform alongside Bob Dylan, but frankly, he’s often just as thrilled to be performing alongside others.
Often placed at the centre of attention due to being a solo artist, Dylan has never necessarily been the sort of person to want to hog the spotlight, frequently trying his best to be as low-key as possible while still maintaining his level of immense popularity. It isn’t necessarily a case of being aloof, but Dylan has always been of a disposition where the music itself ought to speak louder than the person itself, and when it comes to his songwriting, his tales have ended up saying far more than he tends to offer up in interviews.
However, there have been plenty of occasions when he’s found himself alongside musicians of a similar stature and calibre, such as when he was a member of the illustrious supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys, constantly working in esteemed company alongside George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and perhaps most importantly for Dylan’s career, Tom Petty.
He’d continue to work alongside these players even after the Wilburys disbanded, but his association with them had also opened up a number of other opportunities for him to work alongside a multitude of other like-minded musicians.
On his 2009 album, Together Through Life, Dylan can be heard being accompanied by none other than Mike Campbell, best known for being the lead guitarist in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In particular, the song ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothin’’ sees Campbell add a flair to the track that is unusual for a Dylan song, but evidently, the songwriter believed that having him on board for the record would elevate the sound, and what’s more, he greatly respected Campbell as a musician.
“He played with me a lot when I played with Tom Petty,” Dylan proclaimed in a 2009 interview with Bill Flanagan that was published on his official website shortly before the release of the album. Prior to forming the Traveling Wilburys, Dylan had accompanied Petty on a number of dates across 1986 and ‘87, with the two frequently getting on stage and performing together.
Flanagan commented on how he saw the shows that Dylan and Petty performed together, and that he enjoyed the sections of the show where it was just the three aforementioned figures and keyboard player Benmont Tench playing without a rhythm section, which Dylan wished he’d been able to explore more.
“We worked out a few things,” he stated. “I would’ve always liked to have seen that develop more, but it didn’t.”
While Dylan regretted not furthering his collaborations with the other members of the Heartbreakers, his future collaborations with Campbell on Together Through Life proved to him just how incredible he is to have as a sideman.
“He’s good with me,” Dylan mused. “He’s been playing with Tom for so long that he hears everything from a songwriter’s point of view, and he can play most any style.”
Dylan may well be a man of few words, but if you get him talking about something that he has a great fondness for, he’s always bound to light up to a certain degree. Evidently, the guitar work of Mike Campbell is just one of those things.
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