The guitarist Bob Dylan said made every song better: “He improved every record”
Bob Dylan was never someone all that worried about being one of the most technical players ever to walk the Earth. He knew that if he had a song in his heart, that was more than enough for him to keep anyone engaged for as long as he needed to whenever he played one of his tunes. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t find some exceptional talent out in the wild, and he knew when someone was operating on a much different level than he could ever dream of being.
But Dylan was already at the level by some people’s metrics the minute he stepped out on the scene with The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Most pop listeners weren’t expecting their tunes to have this much of an impact throughout their runtime, but whenever Dylan spoke, it was like he was warning everyone about the problems that could happen when everyone doesn’t pay attention to the carnage happening around them.
As soon as he went electric, though, Dylan finally found a sound that could match his intensity. It was already enthralling listening to him sing ‘Masters of War’ with only an acoustic guitar in his hands, but he felt that there was something missing, and as soon as he had The Hawks behind him, his concerts turned into different lyrical exercises every single time he took the stage. Sometimes he would change the verses entirely or go off on a tangent, but the band would know exactly where he was going.
That kind of freeform art is always interesting to listen back to, but by the time the 1970s rolled around, guitarists had been learning how to do what Dylan did with his voice on their own instruments. The fusion world had given way to some of the most electrifying players of all time, but Dylan still felt there was nothing wrong with listening to someone like Ry Cooder light up a solo whenever he played.
“Ry lived and breathed it, learning at the feet of masters and carrying the knowledge like seeds from region to region.”
Bob Dylan
While he had great respect for other improvisational players like Jerry Garcia, Dylan felt nothing compared to listening to Cooder fly off the handle, saying, “Ry lived and breathed it, learning at the feet of masters and carrying the knowledge like seeds from region to region. He improved every record he ever played on and many that he didn’t.” But it’s not that Cooder was strictly copying the legends that came before him.
It’s clear that he was studying under some of the best guitarists of all time, but there was a much greater lesson than strictly learning their scales. It was about finding his own voice on the instrument, and whenever he strapped on his guitar, he was second only to people like Jeff Beck when it came to making the guitar talk in a specific way.
More than anything, Dylan saw a fellow troubadour out in the wild whenever Cooder played. He was never strictly tied to one band most of his life, and that meant that he had free reign to do whatever he wanted on one of his records and be on to the next adventure whenever he wanted to, which didn’t seem that different than Dylan going around the country playing his tunes to anyone within earshot.
There’s not always a lot of overlap in their individual styles, but each of them knew the power of being able to inhabit the right song. It was one thing to play one’s heart out every time they played a tune, but both Dylan and Cooder knew how to internalise every single note they played and throw it back at the audience so no one would even realise what hit them.
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