Songs: Señor, Tombstone Blues, Farewell Angelina, The Wicked Messenger, Father Of Night, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Everything Is Broken, Man Gave Names To All The Animals, Masters Of War, Oxford Town, Maggie's Farm, Forever Young, Lay Down Your Weary Tune

Personnel: Tim O'Brien--vocals, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki; Scott Nygaard--guitar; Mark Schatz--bass, clawhammer banjo, ham bone, harmony vocal; plus many special guests

Who is the best interpreter of Bob Dylan's material? If you want to get a hot rise out of Tim O'Brien, tell him that it ain't Dylan himself. Now, I've never been a fan of old mumbling Bob. I have none of his recordings, I've never seen him perform live, and probably never will. But I do respect him as a songwriter, and he has certainly influenced thousands of singer/songwriters. Other than the Beatles, his songs have probably been recorded more often than anyone else. But as a singer-- yow! He's tough to take. But if you take some of Dylan's songs, add some bluegrass instrumentation, have someone like Tim O'Brien sing them, and call it Red On Blonde, well, then, you've got yourself one painted masterpiece.

Though countless Dylan songs have been recorded over the years by artists from various genres, one of the things that works best on Red On Blonde is that O'Brien selected songs that are not Dylan's best covered works. Except for Subterranean Homesick Blues and Maggie's Farm, I was not familiar with any of the remaining 11 songs. And with stellar players like The O'Boys (Scott Nygaard and Mark Schatz) and guests such as Jerry Douglas, Charlie Cushman and sister Mollie O'Brien, old Red knuckles down and has never sounded better.

The first song, Señor, is an excellent choice to kick off the project. Next comes Tombstone Blues from Highway 61 Revisited, and it has a hot, driving banjo that will set your toes a tappin'. Farewell Angelina is a beautiful ballad and the title of a Joan Baez recording from way back. It would have been a nice touch if Baez had sung harmony on this one. The Wicked Messenger could be the songwriter himself, and Father of Night has a gospel feel to it. On Subterranean the verses are sung to Schatz's ham bone whacking while O'Brien plays mandolin on the breaks. This would be a tough one to pull off live! Dylan's humorous side is exposed on Man Gave Names To All The Animals and Everything Is Broken, the latter featuring a funky guitar break by Nygaard while O'Brien chants the word "solo". Masters of War, Oxford Town and Maggie's Farm are three early protest songs. But the best two songs are the closers-- Forever Young, and Lay Down Your Weary Tune, a song written in 1964 and based on a Scottish ballad, which is a perfect ending to this recording.

As with any Dylan song, they always sound better when someone else sings them. And Tim O'Brien, the former lead singer of the popular bluegrass band Hot Rize, is one of the best singers around. What he has done with Red On Blonde-- for you youngsters, this title is a takeoff on Dylan's recording Blonde On Blonde from the 1960s-- is he took 13 songs from 10 Dylan recordings from the years 1963-1989 and added a bluegrass/old-timey feel to them. This isn't the first time that someone has done a Dylan project (Joan Baez and Duane Eddy have already done same), and it may not be O'Brien's last. He hints that there may be a sequel in the making. Like a rolling stone, Tim O'Brien keeps moving forward, and if he can take someone's old material and make it sound fresh, then he has an endless career ahead of him.

As to who is the best interpreter of Bob Dylan's material? All right, you don't have to think twice about this. And it isn't the great Red Knuckles. The answer, my friend, ain't blowin' in the wind. It's right here on Red On Blonde.