Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour archive

Just stumbled on this site, which hosts an archive of each show of the three series of Bob Dylan's marvellous Theme Time Radio Hour show on XM Radio, 100 episodes in total.

Now apparently finished, the show would find our drawling host programming an hour of songs on the week's topic de semaine, accompanied by Dylan's own reflections and recollections — "he's liable to quote a poem, give tips on hanging drywall, pass along a recipe", observes Linton Weeks of the Washington Post — as well as gems of trivia about the frequently obscure artists he featured.

Here's four of my favourites from TTRH. It's unlikely i'd have heard a couple of these at all if not for the show. These tracks are from just two shows: drinking (season 1, programme 3) and dogs (season 1, programme 16), which is a pretty good indicator that just about every show has at least one absolute gem of a record you won't know and which you will subsequently treasure.

Lonnie the Cat, a former singer in Ike Turner's group, offers what might be recorded history's least convincing ever claim to sobriety; Calypso King Mighty Sparrow tenderly eulogises canine pioneer Laika (not the band) and her often-overlooked role in Soviet space dominance; Rufus Thomas, half of whose songs seem to be about dogs anyway, issues an ultimatum Stax-style to his non-pet-friendly lover; and Johnny Tyler & His Riders of the Rio Grande use the 2-and-a-half minutes of drunken reprobate anthem "It Ain't Far to the Bar" to throw everything they can think of at the wall and sees what sticks.

Links to downloads of the full Dylan shows as mp3 files, as well as individual-track versions of same, are available down the left-hand side of the site.

mp3: Lonnie the Cat — "I Ain't Drunk"
mp3: Mighty Sparrow — "Russian Satellite"
mp3: Rufus Thomas — "Stop Kickin' My Dog Around"
mp3: Johnny Tyler & His Riders of the Rio Grande — "It Ain't Far to the Bar"