Fairport Convention & Friends Sing The Songs Of Bob Dylan

I was asked to come up with a provisional track listing and supply sleeve notes for another Best Of… Fairport compilation. I groaned, jot Another One? Okay, you come up with a new angle, which I duly did.

Right from the very beginning, Fairport had a long association with Dylan’s material, gaining access to many of his then-unreleased songs (‘Percy’s Song’, ‘I’ll Keep It with Mine’, ‘Million Dollar Bash’). And their only hit single was a Cajun cover of ‘If You Gotta Go…’

A Tree With Roots was a line from one of his Basement Tape songs, ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’. I tried to interest the record company in getting as many Fairport survivors as possible to record a version of the song. They said they didn’t have the budget for such a project.

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