Just when you thought the Bob Dylan birthday love was finally over, there’s reportedly a new tribute in the works for later this year being put together by Amnesty International. So far Bad Religion and Rise Against have announced their participation, the latter covering “The Ballad of Hollis Brown.” The album follows 2007’s Instant Karma, Amnesty International’s massive tribute to John Lennon, and celebrates Amnesty’s 50th year.
Details are scarce, but a couple days ago Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz tweeted at record producer Marc McCluskey, “tracking a new @badreligion song at Sonora for Amnesty Int’l comp – its a dylan cover.” No word yet on what song they’re doing.
Rise Against, on the other hand, have offered a few more details:
“I’ll be honest, it started with my manager,” frontman Rim McIlrath told the Edmonton Journal earlier this month. “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. Especially as I’m really getting into the lyrics. I’m discovering this now, but I’m sure any Bob Dylan fan would tell you that’s where the guts of it is, these narratives that he’s telling. I’m a fan of literature and it’s really, really brilliant writing.”
We’ll let you know when we hear more. In the meantime, what Dylan song would you like to hear Bad Religion cover?
