Ritchie Blackmore’s favourite Bob Dylan album
Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist for Deep Purple and Rainbow, has contributed some of the world’s greatest rock songs. Blackmore, the man behind the instantly recognisable riff of ‘Smoke On The Water’, will go down in history as one of music’s finest guitar players. But which artists inspire him? Bob Dylan, it goes without saying, stands out as one of them.
Before joining Deep Purple in 1968, Ritchie Blackmore cut his teeth in several bands that never quite made it big, like The Outlaws and The Lancasters, for example. It was when the iconic Hertford-born rock band started up that Blackmore’s unique style of guitar playing really came into its own.
Becoming a virtuoso with a distinctive sound and feel to his guitar playing, Deep Purple burst to global success in part due to Blackmore’s guitar playing. His style is truly unique, mixing various influences and inspirations. He took elements of classical, blues and rock, merging them together to create his own genre-less and individual style.
This refusal to stick to one genre school of thinking makes so much sense when it comes to Ritchie Blackmore’s love for Bob Dylan. Dylan also refused to be boxed in as he evolved from his folk and country roots into more daring sounds. Pioneering the use of the electric guitar in a genre that was strictly acoustic, his controversial 1965 Newport Folk Festival appearance, where he played electric guitar live for the first time, has gone down in musical history.
A year after that infamous performance, the world heard Dylan’s expanded sound on the 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. Bringing in the mix of blues, country and classic rock that clearly inspires Blackmore, it’s no surprise that he’s named Blonde on Blonde as his favourite Dylan album.
“I would love to play with Bob Dylan,” Blackmore said. Praising the musician’s tireless creativity and reinvention, he continues: “There is something about him that I think is truly monumental and he is so creative. When you think on all the songs that he has written, you know, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, ‘Blowing In the Wind’, it’s endless. So I’m a big fan of his.”
Picking out Blonde on Blonde specifically as his favourite album, Blackmore loves the mystery of it. While the album definitely deals with Dylan’s personal life, referencing his wife at the time, Sara Lownds, in ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ or his relationship with Edie Sedgwick in ‘Just Like A Woman’, he always kept personal references shrouded in mystery and metaphor. On the topic, Ritchie Blackmore said, “I have been in the business for so long; he’s the one that I still feel he remains mysterious.”
Blackmore clearly greatly respects Dylan for his adventurous music, tireless experimentation and personal business of how he handles his fame. Blackmore says: “I mean it sounds kind of funny in a way. But he is the only person I admire in the business”.
