An album celebrating both Bob Dylan's 70 birthday and Amnesty International's 50th anniversary is in the works, according to an article in the Edmonton Journal.
The compilation is reported to be similar to 2007's Instant Karma release which featured cover versions of John Lennon compositions. The money raised from sales of Instant Karma went toward Amnesty’s efforts to help victims of civil war in the Darfur region of Sudan. U2, R.E.M., Jackson Browne, Green Day, Flaming Lips, and Jakob Dylan with Dhani Harrison were among the artists that contributed to the project.
For the Dylan tribute, there have been reports from two bands so far- Bad Religion and Rise Against.
Brett Gurewitz (@BrettGurewitz), guitarist for Bad Religion, tweeted on June 25:
@marcmcclusky tracking a new @badreligion song at Sonora for Amnesty Int'l comp - its a dylan cover
(Marc McClusky is a record producer that has worked with Bad Religion and Weezer, among other acts.)
Chicago punks Rise Against have confirmed they have covered Dylan's "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown".
Lead singer Tim McIlrath explained how he chose that particular song to the Edmonton Journal article:
“I’m kind of a born-again Bob Dylan fan, I’ll be honest. I grew up in a punk rock/hardcore world where it wasn’t cool to listen to folk music, so I’m just now discovering a lot of amazing artists. Bob Dylan was one I passed on in the past, but now I’m digging into his catalogue and really appreciate his stuff.
“I’ll be honest, it started with my manager. She’s the biggest Bob Dylan fan in the world. Not so subtly, a Bob Dylan record would show up on my front porch and every Christmas present I would get would be a Bob Dylan box set or I’d get an iTunes gift card. I was pretty resistant to it, to be honest, but now it’s kind of beginning to sink in . . .
“This song, and his words, I felt this real affinity to and this sounds like something that if I was trying to tell a story, I would write it like this, and I really got into it. It’s the first time I sang lyrics like the kind of the same way I sing my own.”
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This is not Dylan's first connection to Amnesty International. His 1967 song "I Shall Be Released" has often been used as the closing number during Amnesty International shows, and Bruce Springsteen covered "Chimes Of Freedom" during 1988's Human Rights Now! tour.
In 1986, Dylan performed at an A.I. benefit.
More information when it becomes available.
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