Ramblin’ Round Minneapolis (Godfather Records GR 363)
Bonnie Beecher’s Apartment, Minneapolis, MN – December 22nd, 1961
(78:81): Candy Man (trad. arr. by Revd. Gary Davis), Baby Please Don’t Go (Big Joe Williams), Hard Times In New York Town, Stealin’, Stealin’ (trad. arr. Memphis Jug Band), Poor Lazarus (trad.), I Ain’t Got No Home (Woody Guthrie), It’s Hard To Be Blind (trad.), Dink’s Song (trad. arr. by John & Alan Lomax), Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad. arr. Bob Dylan), Story Of East Orange, Naomi Wise (trad.), Wade In The Water (trad.), I Was Young When I Left Home, In The Evening (Brownie McGhee), Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Eric von Schmidt), Sally Girl, Gospel Plow (trad. arr. Bob Dylan), Long John (trad.), Cocaine (trad. arr. Revd. Gary Davies), VD Blues (Woody Guthrie), VD Waltz (Woody Guthrie), VD City (Woody Guthrie), VD Gunner’s Blues (Woody Guthrie), See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson), Ramblin’ Round (Woody Guthrie), Black Cross (Lord Buckley)
A month after the sessions for his first album Bob Dylan ended, he returned home to Minnesota. Tony Glover recorded the famous ‘Minnesota Hotel Tape’ in Bonnie Beecher’s apartment three days before the Christmas of 1961. Recorded in one two and a half hour session sitting on the bed, Dylan runs through a series of covers only four of which, “Man Of Constant Sorrow,” “Gospel Plow,” “Baby Let Me Follow You Down” and “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” were from his album. Instead he focuses upon many other covers. The recording was traded among a few fans shortly after, and has been in relatively wide circulation since 1969. It was actually on the first bootleg ever produced, untitled 2 LP set in 1969, and became known as Great White Wonder. It has been available under various titles a countless number of times in the decades that followed.
Several songs have been officially released such as “Hard Times In New York Town” on Bootleg Vol 1-3 and “Wade In The Water” was released on Literary Voices In Rare Recordings (Bakhåll BAKCD 9403) in March 1994 and on Live 1961-2000 – Thirty-nine years of great concert performances (SME Records SRCS 2438) in February 2001. “I Was Young When I Left Home” was released on the limited edition of Love And Theft (Columbia CK 86076) on September 11th, 2001. Ramblin’ Round Minneapolis breaks no new ground but it does make available the complete tape in an affordable and attractive edition in sterling sound quality.
