JOHN POSADA
Pat Guadagno & Tired Horses at the 2019 BobFest at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.
Bob Dylan will turn 84 on May 24. And that means, among other things, that is time, again, for Pat Guadagno’s annual BobFest concert, begun in 1998 as a Dylan birthday celebration. There will actually be two New Jersey shows this year, May 22 and 29 at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, with a third show scheduled for The Musikfest Café at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, May 23.
Singer-guitarist Guadagno will be joined, as usual, by his Tired Horses band, featuring guitarists Rich Oddo and Steven Delopoulos, bassist Red River Rizzo, harmonica player Rob Paparozzi, drummer Joe Bellia, violinist Gary Oleyar and singer Mary McCrink. (Most of the instrumentalists sing as well.)
Every year, BobFest has a different theme, and this year, it will be “Bootleg BobFest: Rare & Unreleased,” a titled derived from Dylan’s 1991 boxed set The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased), 1961–1991. (This applies only to the Red Bank shows; the one in Bethlehem will be devoted to more well known material).
JOHN POSADA
From left, Pat Guadagno with members of his Tired Horses band, Steve Delopoulos and Rich Oddo.
I talked to Guadagno recently:
Q: Let me ask first about … since everyone in the world saw the Dylan movie (“A Complete Unknown”), what did you think about it?
A: I absolutely loved it. What I loved about it, as a musician, was the authenticity … the playing and the instruments: The vintage instruments were all exact and the music sequences were just phenomenal, right down to Mike Bloomfield playing real loud (laughs).
Q: Did that have anything to do with you doing this (“Rare & Unreleased”) theme?
A: I try to find a theme real early and I had thought about the bootleg theme for a while and when I started putting the songs together, Rob called me and said he was going to be working on the movie (Note: Paparozzi coached Timothy Chalamet on his harmonica playing), and one of the songs they were working on was one of the rare and unreleased (songs), so I said, “Boy, that would be a great theme.” So I just started digging. And we found some great, great stuff. Stuff that I didn’t even know existed.
Q: Which song was that (that Paparozzi was working on with Chalamet)?
A: “I Was Young When I Left Home.”
Q: Can you give me examples of maybe a couple of other songs you’re going to do?
A: We found an old song called “Catfish.” And kind of the one that kicked it off was “Wagon Wheel,” the one that he wrote the chorus to, and the fellow from Old Crow Medicine Show wrote the lyric, so that kind of qualified for us, so I put that in. And then … you know, he reinvents stuff. He did one song that we performed a couple of years ago with all different lyrics, just a whole different version of it. That was “Someone’s Got a Hold of my Heart” and it used to be … Oh boy, I can’t remember the name of the old one. It was on Empire Burlesque. (Note: the title is “Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love).”) We just found some really interesting stuff. We’ve been having real good luck selling out the Vogel theater. So I knew that we would have an audience and we could go deep and people wouldn’t be upset that they weren’t hearing hits. It’s a real focused group that really latched onto it. And I think the movie probably helped.
This year’s BobFest has a “Rare & Unreleased” theme.
Q: I think that’s a thing about hardcore Dylan fans … or hardcore Bruce fans, or hardcore McCartney fans, or whoever … you want to hear the more unusual stuff because you’ve heard the hits so many times.
A: Right. And now with all these tribute bands … I started doing the Van Morrison thing (i.e., his annual “A Marvelous Night” tribute concerts) a few years ago, too, and people really appreciate the fact that I dig deep on the Van Morrison stuff. Some people want to hear “Brown Eyed Girl” and stuff like that, but there are so many tribute bands doing that all over, that that’s just not my thing. We haven’t put that one (this year’s Morrison tribute) up for sale yet, but that’s coming up in October.
Q: And then there is the Warren Zevon tribute (“Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Music of Warren Zevon,” taking place at The Vogel, Aug. 1). It’s good timing for you that he’s getting into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.
A: Oh yeah, it’s perfect. That’s a fun show. We did that last year with Adam Weiner from Low Cut Connie. And this year, Arlan Feiles is doing it with us.
Q: How much preparation is necessary for a show like BobFest?
A: I go at it like a director, and then, a producer. I select the guys that I know will really fit the roles. And then I give them all the roles to play, and they all step up and they all just perform the hell out of everything. We work on it three or four months in advance. I give them all their parts and then we’ll get together … actually, I rehearse parts of the band going up to the show, but we’ll never all be onstage together until the day of the show, because everyone’s working so far afield. As a matter of fact, the last show I did was a Leonard Cohen show, and we had people onstage, shaking hands and meeting, hugging for the first time. (laughs) “Nice to meet you!” But then, with the electronics … we get together on FaceTime, and then two days before the show we’ll rehearse with some of the people — the guys that can make it — and really, literally the only time we’re all together is onstage.
Q: For this year’s BobFest shows, did anyone come to you and say, “Hey, there’s this obscure song I’ve always wanted to do. Can we do this one?”
A: When I was first doing it (i.e., at early BobFest shows), they did. But now, it’s my vision. It’s my show. I put it together, and they all trust me, and they all believe that I know what’s best.
JAY LUSTIG
Pat Guadagno, left, and Steven Delopoulos perform at BobFest at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, in 2022.
Q: Is there any song that you yourself have always wanted to do but never have, but now with this show, you feel you can?
A: I’m looking at the setlist now … The ones I love the most are the ones Steve Delopoulos does, believe it or not, because I just love watching what he does to a song and to an audience when he performs. It’s just breathtaking. The ones I like the best … by the time we get to the show, I’m so sick of them I never want to hear them again, and so I’m kind of cautious about doing things that I really have a passion for. But there are one or two songs on this setlist that I’ve always wanted to do and never had a chance to do.
There will be two or three that the casual fan will recognize. I wouldn’t want to divulge the setlist because I like to keep it to myself, which is kind of silly. But “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word” is one that everybody knows, but he never released. And “Blind Willie McTell,” things like that.
Because I’ve done it so long and have had some success with it, I have kind of license to do whatever I want with them, and it’s kind of a cool license to have. It’s just throwing it up against the wall and hoping it sticks. And so far, everybody seems to enjoy it.
The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel will present “Hallelujah: The Songs of Leonard Cohen,” Nov. 15.
Q: So is there anything else going on with you these days?
A: Not much. Just putting all these shows together. And I’m having a ball doing it. It’s getting to know these guys a lot better. Leonard Cohen … somebody came to me years ago and said, “You should do a Leonard Cohen show,” and wanted to put it in a theater. And I sat down for months and I couldn’t come up with five songs. I said, “I can’t do a five-song show.” So I started working on it and last year, I was able to come up with a pretty good 25-, 26-song show. We did that at the Bell Works theater in Holmdel. It was just a totally different show. All musicians that I hadn’t worked with before. It was really, really fun and a great learning experience for me because I was not familiar with his music other than “Bird on a Wire” and “Suzanne.”
Q: So you’re doing that again this year?
A: Yeah, we have that booked for Nov. 15, back at Bell Works. And I’m doing a “100 Years of Hank Williams” show, too, in Woodbridge.
Q: Of course, as you said, tribute bands are so ubiquitous these days …
A: I know!
Q: … but these are really kind of special, one-time-only events.
A: They really are. And we get all the best musicians on these things. I mean, it’s just mind-blowing how good these guys are.
LINKS
May 22 and 29, 7 p.m.: Pat Guadagno & Tired Horses, “Bootleg BobFest: Rare & Unreleased” at The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank. ticketmaster.com
May 23, 8 p.m.: Pat Guadagno & Tired Horses, “BobFest” at Musikfest Café at SteelStacks, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. steelstacks.org
July 27, 7:30 p.m.: Pat Guadagno & His Lonesome Cowboys, “100 Years of Hank: The Songs of Hank Williams,” free Country Sundays series at Woodbridge High School Concert Field. woodbridgeartsnj.org
Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m.: “Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Music of Warren Zevon” featuring Pat Guadagno with Arlan Feiles, Vini Lopez, Jake Thistle and Pam McCoy at The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank. ticketmaster.com
Nov. 15, 8 p.m.: Pat Guadagno & Friends, “Hallelujah: The Songs of Leonard Cohen” at Bell Theater at Bell Works, Holmdel. belltheater.org/events
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