After the Stonewall event yesterday I stayed on in Bath to see CN Lester in concert at the Forum. Technically this wasn’t a CN gig. They were just a part of an event celebrating the work of Bob Dylan, but seeing as I love Dylan too this wasn’t too much of a hardship.

The evening was a mixture of chat and music. It was hosted by Danny Kelly (former editor of the NME) and featured rock journalists, David Hepworth and Dorian Lynskey, both of whom have written extensively about Dylan. Most of their discussion was about Dylan the man, not Dylan the musician or political activist. Dylan certainly is a fascinating figure, being so reclusive that even musicians who have worked with him can’t always claim to have met him.

Kelly had three stories that illustrate this. Firstly, during the Travelling Wilbury’s project, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty were often left waiting for Dylan to turn up so that they could record. Lou Adler, whose kids were friendly with Dylan’s kids, never once met him despite frequent visits to Dylan’s home delivering and collecting children. Raquel Welch reported having dinner with Dylan in Los Angles. She’d dressed up to the nines because hey, date with Bob Dylan, but he wore a hoodie drawn so tight over his face that there was barely room to get the food into his mouth.

Much of this is doubtless because when you are Bob Dylan you have little choice but to protect yourself from the public. I know a few famous writers and understand a bit about fame, but people such as Neil Gaiman and George Martin have only a fraction of the public profile that Dylan has. Back when I was a kid people tended to see Dylan as a messiah.

We did eventually get on to Dylan’s art in the inevitable discussion about the Nobel Prize. Lynskey noted that while Leonard Cohen was a poet first and musician second, agonizing over every line that he wrote, Dylan is a songwriter who chooses words as much for the sound they make as for the literary beauty of his lines.

Of course there was also music. That side of the show was managed by Justin Adams who is rock guitarist. If I tell you that one of his current jobs is playing lead guitar for Robert Plant’s band you shouldn’t need telling just how good he is. He was joined by Sid Griffin, a bluegrass player who was able to throw some light on Dylan’s influences and was very amusing. Also taking part was a young vocalist called Hajar Woodland. She’s got a great voice, though her Dylan covers were very standard.

CN got to play two songs. They were “Just Like A Woman” and “One More Cup of Coffee”. If you are familiar with CN’s music you’ll know that these will have featured amazing vocals and a haunting piano accompaniment. Pleasingly CN also got to talk a bit about why they were there. Growing up with parents who share a love for Shakespeare and Dylan is a splendid sort of formative experience to have. Kelly did manage to use the right pronouns, though he seemed rather uncomfortable with it. I suspect that there were a few false steps backstage.

The headline musical act was Barb Jungr who is apparently famous for doing Dylan covers. Her style is more suited to show tunes than to rock or Angry Singer Songwriter. I loved her as a person. She has great stage presence, told good funny stories, and as a bonus burned with contempt for Trump. Sadly her covers didn’t work for me.

Firstly it seemed to me that the accompanying piano didn’t sound right. It worked perfectly for CN, whose piano sound is deep and sonorous, but not for the lighter, frothier arrangements that Barb had. I have no idea how to express that in musical terms. Obviously with a bunch of different musicians involved, and a one-off show with little time to rehearse, getting things like this right is difficult.

Second, Dylan songs are very much about the rhythm of the words. If you mess with that then the words lose their power. Its like reading a poem and breathing in all the wrong places. Related to that, the words have to be the focus. You can get as fancy as you like in the instrumental breaks, but not with the words, otherwise it becomes all about you and not all about the lyrics. Barb has a great voice, and clearly loved Dylan’s lyrics, but for me her interpretations rather pulled the teeth of the words.

I’ve been chatting to CN about the Dylan covers. Apparently there are no recordings of them. Having heard how good those two were, I’d like to see an entire album of CN Lester Dylan covers. I have ideas. Doubtless that will remain in my imagination. However, the new album, Come Home, will be available later this week. It includes a cover of Bowie’s “Heroes”, which I am very much looking forward to hearing.

All in all it was an enjoyable evening, but there were a couple of sour notes. Firstly CN’s new book, Trans Like Me, was supposed to be available at the gig. Kelly encouraged people to buy it, but it wasn’t there. Whether this was the fault of the publisher, the shippers, or Waterstones, isn’t clear, but I know I wasn’t the only person disappointed not to be able to buy a copy.

Also CN was mysteriously absent from the finale in which all of the other musicians got together to play a few well-loved Dylan songs. Where trans folks are involved you tend to fear the worst, and I was very worried for a while. Thankfully I was able to tweet CN and discovered that they had to rush back to London. Kelly really should have mentioned why CN was absent.

Still, I had a good time. I would have had a better time if I’d had a few younger people there with me. The band tried hard to get the audience to sing along and dance for the finale, but frankly many of the audience looked like they wouldn’t have done so even if they had been 16 rather than 60+. Bath: it is what it is.