Best Bob Dylan Covers (and why I believe Dylan is a great musician, but not a great singer)

There are some great musicians whose music I love, but who aren't necessarily great singers. To me, Bob Dylan is one of them. He wrote many great songs, but I usually like other people's versions of his songs better. You can definitely sense that he's really feeling the song, but somehow I just don't like his voice very much (I hope I haven't offended anyone here).

The Indigo Girls are quite popular in the US, but are unfortuntately not widely known outside of the US. It's a shame, because these two singers are great in harmony singing and have produced several very good cd's. On one of these cd's, they sing their own version of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" together with Joan Baez.  Joan Baez is Bob Dylan's ex-girlfriend and the one who helped Bob Dylan to achieve national fame. This song was written by Bob Dylan in 1962, and has since been covered by many musicians. This is my favorite cover of the song .

Indigo Girls and Joan Baez - "Don't Think Twice It's Alright"

Another great singer who actually did an entire album of Bob Dylan covers is Odetta. Odetta was another big name in the early 1960's. At the time African Americans were fighting for equal opportunities in the US, Odetta was considered to be "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". She had already  been singing since 1944, and was an inspiration for Bob Dylan and many other artists at the time. Her cd "Odetta Sings Dylan" includes several of Dylan's best songs. My favorite cover on this cd is "With God on Our Side". (Take some time to listen to the lyrics, they're really good).

Odetta - "With God On Our Side"

Thank god, Bob Dylan didn't just influence people in the 1960's. To show that his music is still considered to be great today, I'll include Adele's version of "Make You Feel My Love". Once again, I believe that her rendition of the song is much better Dylan's version. But I'm sure many of the Bob Dylan fans will disagree with me on that.

Adele - "Make You Feel My Love"

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Shame on Me

Johnny Cash's Inspiration

Shame on me!

I actually don't really know what style/genre the following song represents. What I do know is that it is sung by two of the greatest performers of all time: Johnny Cash and Odetta. Most of you will probably know Mr. Cash. You probably have heard "I Walk the Line" or "Jackson" at least once in your life. Odetta will probably not ring as many bells, but you should defintely check her out! She sings some real beautiful soul and folk songs, with some ocassional blues and jazz.

Johnny Cash was brought to the public by RCA, the same recording company that made Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins famous. He was part of the "Million Dollar Quartet", a record that was secretly taped by Sam Philips (owner of RCA). He immediately had a lot of dollar signs in his eyes when he saw the four of them singing together at the studio. For a great movie on Johnny's life see "Walk the Line". (For those of you who didn't see it yet. Are there any people out there?)

I actually discovered Odetta through watching almost every You Tube video by Johnn Cash that is out there. I am actually quite ashamed that I did not hear about her before (might be due to my age though). I immideately loved her Soul voice and the natural rhytm that was in her. Like Johnny Cash, she died a couple of years ago, but left some real good songs for us to discover (or listen to again). I especially love her cd of Bob Dylan covers (Odetta Sings Dylan). Odetta was known as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movements", and inspired and influenced great stars such as Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin.

The song "Shame and Scandal in the Family" was taped at the Johnny Cash Show in 1969, it starts at 4.05.

Johnny Cash & Odetta - "Shame and Scandal in the Family"