Doing a Bob Dylan cover is brave. His inimitable croon is soothing and gives life to his lyrics. Rolling Stone explained the essence of Dylan's charm perfectly when they gave him the number seven spot on their list of 100 Greatest Singers:
"Bob Dylan did what very, very few singers ever do. He changed popular singing. And we have been living in a world shaped by Dylan's singing ever since. Almost no one sings like Elvis Presley anymore. Hundreds try to sing like Dylan. When Sam Cooke played Dylan for the young Bobby Womack, Womack said he didn't understand it. Cooke explained that from now on, it's not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It's going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth."When I saw Nakhane Toure's tweet announcing that he had done a cover of Dylan's "I Was Young When I Left Home", I was a bit nervous about what would be on the other side of the link. Turns out I had no reason to worry. Toure's version, although could do with a bit of polishing, has an ethereal, spine-tingling quality to it which makes me more than a little embarrassed to admit that I had doubted him.
Listen to "I Was Young When I Left Home":
