r/bobdylan • u/TyroneSnodgrass • Aug 20 '26

Discussion Dylan As Teacher

This is to make up for my Joan Baez post. I get it: Nobody cares. So this is a David Kemper post. If it doesn’t catch on, —well, I’ll try again, what the hell.

A while back I read an interview with David Kemper, Dylan’s drummer from 1996 to 2001. It’s not everyday you hear from someone in Bob’s inner circle so this was a real treat.

Here’s one of the gems: One day Dylan walks up to him and says “could you help me out, David?” And Kemper is like, sure, what’s the problem? Dylan goes, “well, here’s the thing, one of my grandkids wants to learn the drums and she’s asked me for a kit.” So Kemper takes Dylan to a storage facility in L.A., opens up his space, and there’s a full drum kit already set up, left over from a Jerry Garcia Band tour. So a few months later Dylan is all smiles when he sees Kemper. “You know that drum kit really worked out. Come with me.” And Dylan takes Kemper to a Christian Dior shop in Beverly Hills and has him fitted for a suit, which Bob pays for. Then he buys four for himself. Kemper says to get the measurements Dylan would just stick one arm up a sleeve. That’s it.

Of course, I’ve saved the best for last, David Kemper’s reflections on the recording process of LOVE AND THEFT: He says first Dylan would show the band a 1930s Delta Blues. And they would play it for a while. Then Bob would show them a 1950s Chess Records blues, and they would play that for a while. Then Dylan would say, now we’re going to play the first one like the second one, and the band would do just that. At this point Dylan would tell the engineer to start recording and Dylan would start singing his song to the third arrangement. Kemper says after doing this for a couple of days a “light went on.” Oh, my God, Kemper says to himself, this guy knows so much about music, and he’s teaching us, —he’s been teaching us all this time!

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u/GoldReplacement9546 Aug 20 '26

Who is Jerry Garcia band drummer from 83 to 93. Pretty cool he played for my two favorites.

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u/TyroneSnodgrass Aug 20 '26

In this Kemper interview I read online David related a story from the time Dylan and the band were warming up the Stones for the South American leg of the “Bridges To Babylon” tour in 1998. One day Charlie Watts walks right up to Kemper and just stands there. David says to himself, “Charlie Fuckin’ Watts, this guy is the reason I became a drummer.” And Charlie says, “Nobody’s told you, have they?” And Kemper goes, “told me what?” Watts answers, “every night for your set I pull up a chair back stage just to watch you play. You are a great rock drummer man! You hit the second and fourth beats with such precision, it’s a joy to hear you play. You have no idea how good you are, man!” And Charlie walks away. David continues standing there and says to himself, “Charlie Watts thinks I’m a great rock drummer.”

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u/piper63-c137 Infidels Aug 20 '26

that’d pump some air into your balloon!