Bob Dylan's Monday night in Austin turned into the kind of rock-and-roll chaos that becomes legend. After guitarist Doug Lancio departed two weeks prior, his replacement Julian Lage had a Brooklyn conflict, and second guitarist Bob Britt dropped the ultimate mic-drop with a "Sayonara Bobby" Facebook post—nobody knew who'd actually show up to play Dylan's 5,000-seat Moody Amphitheater gig.
Fans were losing it online. Would Jimmie Vaughan save the day? Could Dylan dust off an old bandmate like Larry Campbell? Would it be a three-piece? The speculation was wild. When the lights dimmed on June 29, the answer was Joel Paterson—a name almost nobody outside Chicago blues circles knew.
Up until this week, Paterson was a Monday-night regular at Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Chicago, a 150-seat jazz bar where he played every week with his quartet. Two days before his Dylan debut, he was still performing there. His bandmate Natalie Scharf posted on Facebook that he'd be absent for "the next two or three weeks"—she conveniently left out that he was about to play "All Along the Watchtower" and 15 other Dylan standards in front of thousands.
Paterson, a blues veteran who's recorded with Wanda Jackson and other cult legends, handled every guitar part solo. Fan reports were glowing. He played pedal steel on four Dylan songs including "If Not for You" and "To Ramona."
The big questions? How much prep time did he actually get? Was he already a Dylan deep-cut expert, or did he cram like it was a college final? And most importantly—is this Chicago guy the permanent fix or just a fill-in while Dylan scrambles for Plan C?
The rock gods clearly have a sense of humour.
