Blood in the Tracks: The Minnesota Musicians behind Dylan's Masterpiece

by Rick Shefchik, Paul Metsa

The story of the Minneapolis musicians who were unexpectedly summoned to re-record half of the songs on Bob Dylan's most acclaimed album When Bob Dylan recorded Blood on the Tracks in New York in September 1974, it was a great album. But it was not the album now ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the ten best of all time. “When something’s not right, it’s wrong,” as Dylan puts it in “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”—and something about that original recording led him to a studio in his native Minnesota to re-record five songs, including “Idiot Wind” and “Tangled Up in Blue.” Six Minnesota musicians participated in that two-night recording session at Sound 80, bringing their unique sound to some of Dylan’s best-known songs—only to have their names left off the album and their contribution unacknowledged for more than forty years. This book tells the story of those two nights in Minneapolis, introduces the musicians who gave the album so much of its ultimate form and sound, and describes their decades-long fight for recognition.   Blood in the Tracks takes readers behind the scenes with these “mystery” Minnesota twenty-one-year-old mandolin virtuoso Peter Ostroushko; drummer Bill Berg and bass player Billy Peterson, the house rhythm section at Sound 80; progressive rock keyboardist Gregg Inhofer; guitarist Chris Weber, who owned The Podium guitar shop in Dinkytown; and Kevin Odegard, whose own career as a singer-songwriter had paralleled Dylan’s until he had to take a job as a railroad brakeman to make ends meet. Through in-depth interviews and assiduous research, Paul Metsa and Rick Shefchik trace the twists of fate that brought these musicians together and then set them on different paths in its their musical experiences leading up to the December 1974 recording session, the divergent careers that followed, and the painstaking work required to finally obtain the official credit that they were due.    A rare look at the making—or remaking—of an all-time great album, and a long overdue recognition of the musicians who made it happen, Blood in the Tracks brings to life a transformative moment in the history of rock and roll, for the first time in its true context and with its complete cast of players.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

216 pages, Hardcover

Published September 12, 2023

About the author

Rick Shefchik was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1974 and worked at the Duluth News-Tribune for three years. He then spent 26 years at the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a media critic, feature writer/columnist, enterprise reporter and sportswriter.

He lives in Stillwater, Minnesota, with his wife, Barbara. He's a lifelong golfer and played guitar with several bands.

Series:
* Sam Skarda Mystery

Reviews

[Brett Littman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice story about real working musicians and unsung heroes. The highlights are obviously the bits about the actual recording.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bob Dylan had recorded Blood on the Tracks in New York, but wasn't happy with it, even as it had been pressed. In Minnesota, his brother found a group of local musicians, and brought them into re-record some of its tracks, which replaced 5 of on the original record. While many have said the New York versions were superior, I've always strongly preferred the album as released. This book tells the story of the musicians who came to be at those recording sessions, the sessions themselves, and their lives afterwards.

Of course the middle part of the book which covers the two days of recording that happened in Minneapolis are the best part of the book and these sessions were very different than Dylan recording sessions up to that time. He was open and friendly, and very happy with the work they did. The rest of the book, while interesting, is not that compelling: for most of the musicians this was really a (if not the) highlight of their careers. They were treated a bit shabbily on the record (names aren't on the jacket), and had to go without real credit for a long time, and their later encounters with Dylan weren't all that special. But that's not a surprise. So, for most of us, who aren't into the Minneapolis scene, much of the book will be extraneous. Still, it's well written, and important to have as part of the canon. ( I need to organizes my Dylan shelves.)

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood in the Tracks: The Minnesota Musicians Behind Dylan's Masterpiece, by Paul Metsa and Rick Shefchik, is a look at the (re)making of Dylan's album and at the largely overlooked musicians who were involved.

First, if you think this is strictly about Dylan and this one album, read the title more closely, it is about the musicians who played on those rerecorded tracks using the Dylan sessions as a focal point. If you enjoy reading about skilled and interesting people in the music industry, this will be a very interesting book. If you just want to read more about Dylan and nothing else, you may be disappointed in the book, but that will be because you didn't read the title and the book description.

My last comment in the previous paragraph may be a bit snarky, but I actually expected more Dylan than there was, so in a broad sense it is also about me. That said, I knew I was getting a book about the musicians, so I was just surprised, not disappointed. In fact, I ended up pleased that I learned about these people since I have already read plenty about Dylan while these fine musicians never received their due.

If you've ever been fascinated by the stories that highlight what artists did after their most famous moments, then you will enjoy this volume a lot. At the time of the sessions these were musicians who ranged from just starting to being well known names in the area. In every case, these were professionals who, like most good studio musicians, can bring a lot more to a recording than simply playing what they're told to play. Giving these guys a little bit of freedom and encouragement can go a long way. Can change something from passable to iconic.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first heard of this book on the great music- focused podcast Sound Opinions (Episode #946) where Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot deconstruct Dylan's epic "Blood On The Tracks." Although a long time fan I didn't know the backstory about the recording which was done by Phil Ramone with studio musicians in New York. Evidently Dylan thought there was something lacking in this take and while in Minnesota used his brother (producer David Zimmerman) to put together a local band to rework some of the tracks. The released album incorporates 5 of these revised tracks cut by a talented yet uncredited group of musicians. BITT goes into the background on each contributor, the interaction with Bob during the recording and the careers of each musician post the recording in MN with Dylan. I enjoyed the story related on Sound Opinions and probably should have left it there.

If you're a music nerd who likes to read all the liner notes in an album and/or are familiar with the music scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul you'll like this book. Which reminds me of how Jerry Garcia reportedly compared the Grateful Dead's music to licorice, saying some people really like licorice" 🙄

[Jay Gabler]

Much has been written about those two winter nights in 1974, including A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks. Still, Blood in the Tracks now stands as the definitive account of the sessions that produced one of the most lauded albums ever recorded in Minnesota. I reviewed Blood in the Tracks for the Duluth News Tribune.

[James Klagge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is accurate--this is really about the 6 Minnesota musicians who sat in while Dylan re-recorded 5 of the tracks from his record. I think they did a great job, and they didn't get official credit at the time for what they contributed. But it didn't turn out to be all that interesting to learn the backstory about each one, and the after-life of each one. That may be more interesting to folks who are into local music scenes, but I skimmed a lot of pages. Nevertheless, the account of the actual re-recordings, during 2 sessions, was interesting. I'm a big fan of the album, and especially of the re-recorded tracks.

[Theodore Kinni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more than you want to know about the virtually unknown session musicians who helped remake Blood on the Tracks into one of the great rock records, but a terrific case study into how the industry of making music really works.