There’s this band I love called The Other Favourites. It’s these two guys in their early thirties who play a genre of music that’s really hard for me to put my finger on. It’s something connected to bluegrass or folk rock. Whatever box you may decide their music fits in, they are undoubtedly skilled. Watching them is my preferred way to consume their music, they are so clearly passionate about what they play and sing. I used to listen to them quite regularly on my drive to university. Predictably, I was familiar with each of the songs on each of their albums.
I was shocked when I heard a women playing a song for her mosaic class and I caught the familiar lilt of The Other Favourites. They make incredible music, but they aren’t terribly well known, how did this woman find out about them? Curiosity piqued, I walked over to her to ask how she found the band I so enjoy. “Who?” The song was a Bob Dylan song. It turns out that I was familiar only with the cover performed by The Other Favourites. I walked away fairly quickly, attempting to conceal my reddening face.
Whoops. Honest mistake. But it got me thinking about Bob Dylan and his immense body of work. Actually, I assume that his body of work is immense. I am totally unfamiliar with Dylan’s discography (as indicated by my oversight), but I am vaguely aware that he is an especially impactful musician. I began thinking of all of the many, many other musicians who have changed the face of music and whose music I have yet to investigate. Springsteen. Prince. Simon & Garfunkel. Jay-Z. I then began thinking wider than music. What about all the authors, poets, philosophers, photographers, chefs, artists, architects, designers whose work is groundbreaking. There is so much to get stuck in to.
It feels wonderful to me. Rich and glorious like a massive book shop with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of small, beautifully cluttered rooms, each of which leads to another. I will never be able to read about, listen to or otherwise engage with all of the work created by the geniuses and prodigies of our world (I am secretly in favour of plain old hard workers, people who are not obviously supernaturally gifted but decide to slog it out anyway). I’m going to give it my best shot, though. If you need me I’ll be browsing Bob Dylan’s albums.