By KATH GANNAWAY
WHO knew that the Manfred Mann hit ‘Quinn the Eskimo’ was written by Bob Dylan?
The folk-rock song written by Dylan and released in 1968 as ‘Mighty Quinn’, was first recorded during The Basement Tapes sessions by Dylan a year before.
What the story was behind the song, is another story.
And, it’s one, one of many revealed in Healesville singer/songwriter Jeff Jenkin’s show DYLANesque, performed on Sunday to a spell-bound audience at Bulong Estate in Yarra Junction.
The two-hour show pays tribute to the extraordinary life, times and music of a musician regarded as one of the 20th century’s greatest songwriters.
Jenkins (lead singer with Dukes of Despair) has pulled together a four-piece band of brilliant local musos to present an authentic and powerful homage to Dylan.
Performing 30 of his finest songs, Jenkins intersperses stories of the key moments of Dylan’s life from his beginnings as a 19-year-old in Greenwich Village to the collaboration with other greats as part of the Travelling Wilburys.
Jenkins said the idea for the show came from his own admiration of Dylan as a songwriter.
“His songwriting influences my songwriting,” he said, adding that audiences regularly made the comparison with his own sound and interpretation of songs on stage.
“I wondered if I could do something with that,” he said.
“I started learning the songs, but didn’t want to do a straight tribute show, so started reading everything I could find.
“I realised he lived in incredibly exciting times, the start of the revolution, and he wrote that way for a long time, but he also kept changing and reinventing himself to the point that he is still making music today – still touring and still playing.”
One of the challenges was to recreate what Jenkins calls ‘that messy, organic sound’ that Dylan had in the early days.
He hand-picked the band – Kim Farrell on guitar, Jim Moody on drums, Mick Wenhuda on bass and fiddle and Andrew King on keyboard to try to recreate “that messy noise when folk got into bed with rock and roll and created this bastard son”.
Jenkins, and the band, have nailed it. The show is brilliant, entertaining and fun.
Unlike Dylan, who Jenkins says was a ‘cantankerous old bugger’ when it came to playing for his audiences, DYLANesque plays all the big ones.
Many of the “I didn’t know that” moments come from the great collaborations Dylan had with his peers over many decades, and the songs he penned that were hits for everyone from Jimmi Hendrix to Peter, Paul and Mary … and Manfred Mann.
The show from concept to stage has been a nine-month labour of love – and a lot of hard work.
“I hope people enjoy it from start to finish,” Jenkins said.
“There are a lot of surprises along the way.
“I think what I am giving is an impression, rather than an impersonation.
“It’s a homage, for sure.”
Upcoming performances are at The WHO Club in Warburton on Friday 19 February, The Memo in Healesville on Saturday 5 March and Friday 18 March at the Kingston Arts Centre in Moorabbin.
For more information visit www.dylanesque.com.au.
