Joel Paterson

Bob Dylan continues to switch up his band. As previously reported, jazz guitarist Julian Lage has been playing with the group ever since a performance at the Santa Barbara Bowl on June 17. Lage stepped in for Doug Lancio, who had been on the road with the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour since it kicked off in November of 2021. However, Lage’s tenure with Dylan appeared to be short-lived from the start–or at least contain one notable conflict–since the guitarist had a previously scheduled show at Brooklyn, NY’s National Sawdust yesterday.

To complicate matters even more, before last night’s show, guitarist Bob Britt also announced that he is moving on from Dylan’s band. Britt, who appears on Dylan’s Time Out of Mind record, first joined Dylan’s group in October 2019. Following an appearance at the Sandia Amphitheater in Albuquerque on Friday,  Dylan fans picked up on a social media post from Britt’s account sharing a flight route from Austin to Nashville with the message “Sayonara Bobby,” as well as a comment that reads “I quit.” 

The musician then posted on his Facebook page, “Apparently there are quite a few threads out there with people speculating about my departure from the Bob tour. I’d like to clear it up. I was not fired but left of my own accord for reasons I would prefer to keep private. I will miss my band mates and crew. I am looking forward to getting back to doing sessions (give me a call) and also finishing up Etta’s gospel record. As far as any touring goes, we will see what the future holds. Meanwhile, I have some flower beds to weed.” 

When Dylan took the stage last night, Joel Paterson had stepped in as the lone guitarist in The Bard’s band. The Chicago-based musician, who describes his sound as “jazz, blues, western swing and everything in between,” has a weekly residency at the Windy City’s Green Mill Cocktail Lounge.

Dylan will perform at the Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels this evening. Lage’s next scheduled date is not until a July 4 appearance at Montreal, Canada’s Théâtre Maisonneuve with Christian McBride, so it is unclear if he will rejoin Dylan’s band this week.