{"id":52606,"date":"2025-11-24T22:04:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/24\/hear-bob-dylan-perform-a-folk-ballad-for-the-first-time-in-34-years\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T22:04:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T22:04:40","slug":"hear-bob-dylan-perform-a-folk-ballad-for-the-first-time-in-34-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/24\/hear-bob-dylan-perform-a-folk-ballad-for-the-first-time-in-34-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Hear Bob Dylan Perform a Folk Ballad for the First Time in 34 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>He regularly played &#8220;The Lakes of Pontchartrain&#8221;\u00a0in the very early days of the Never Ending Tour, but it fell out of rotation back in 1991<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThree days after stumping the crowd at Belfast\u2019s Waterfront Hall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bob-dylan-obscure-van-morrison-cover-1235470484\/\">by playing Van Morrison\u2019s 2016 supreme deep cut \u201cGoing Down to Bangor,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bob-dylan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bob-dylan\" data-tag=\"bob-dylan\">Bob Dylan<\/a> went significantly further back in music history \u2014 about 180 years to be exact \u2014 and broke out the traditional folk ballad \u201cThe Lakes of Pontchartrain\u201d at INEC Arena, in Killarney, Ireland.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bob Dylan \u2014 The Lakes of Pontchartrain. Killarney, Ireland. November 23, 2025. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5B2Y8JoW9vU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tUnlike \u201cGoing Down to Bangor,\u201d Dylan has actually played \u201cThe Lakes of Pontchartrain\u201d at prior gigs, but the last one took place 34 years ago. He debuted it June 7, 1988, when the Never Ending Tour kicked off in Concord, California. The last time he performed it was on July 6, 1991, at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Lakes Of Pontchartrain\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uaSPHNbjK2E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cThe Lakes of Pontchartrain\u201d originated in America and directly references New Orleans and the surrounding region. It was resurrected by the Irish folk group Planxty on their 1974 LP <em>Cold Blow and the Rainy Night<\/em>, turning it into an Irish standard. That\u2019s why Dylan revisited it in Killarney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThis isn\u2019t the first time Dylan has surprised audiences by covering local favorites. Back in 2023, he had a run where he covered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pOtbJH-EJ20&amp;list=RDpOtbJH-EJ20&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Chuck Berry in St. Louis,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WaGOredKefc&amp;list=RDWaGOredKefc&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Muddy Waters in Chicago, <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NYvWSuC7y4g&amp;list=RDNYvWSuC7y4g&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">John Mellencamp in Indianapolis,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=czDJUkc0bZA&amp;list=RDczDJUkc0bZA&amp;start_radio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Leonard Cohen in Montreal,<\/a> and many others. He also played so many Grateful Dead covers that year that many fans speculated that he was recording some sort of Dead covers album. If that was the case, it has yet to surface.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bob Dylan - The Lakes of Pontchartrain\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y69TdkpNU-Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tDylan\u2019s tour continues Monday night with a second show in Killarney before wrapping up Tuesday in Dublin. There are no dates officially on the books for next year, but Dylan has already said he\u2019s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bobdylan\/status\/1989034016033628651\">playing more <em>Rough and Rowdy Ways<\/em> shows.<\/a> Let\u2019s hope he sticks with these surprising covers. <em>Rough and Rowdy Ways<\/em> is great, but he\u2019s played many of these songs about 275 times each. The show is a lot more fun when there\u2019s at least one surprise, even if it\u2019s a 2016 Van Morrison tune or a folk ballad from the early 19th century.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWe\u2019d wish for him to play actual deep cuts from his own catalog, including the vast majority of the music he recorded between 1967 and 1997, but we know that\u2019s simply not going to happen. There\u2019s a better chance he\u2019ll play Van Morrison\u2019s 2021 song \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pPn2zH_8OmY&amp;list=RDpPn2zH_8OmY&amp;start_radio=1\">Why Are You on Facebook<\/a>\u201d than anything from <em>Street Legal<\/em> or <em>Empire Burlesque. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bob-dylan-folk-ballad-lakes-of-pontchartrain-34-years-1235472012\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He regularly played &#8220;The Lakes of Pontchartrain&#8221;\u00a0in the very early days of the Never Ending Tour, but it fell out of rotation back in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":52607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}