Bob Dylan to release unheard version of “Blind Willie McTell” on vinyl

Bob Dylan is gearing up to release a new seven-inch single featuring an unreleased version of “Blind Willie McTell”.

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The new vinyl will arrive on August 20 via Jack White’s Third Man Records.

Dylan’s original track initially emerged from the sessions for his 1983 album Infidels, but didn’t make the final album cut and a first version didn’t arrive until 1991, when it featured on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 – 3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.

While the original track featured a stripped-back acoustic piano-guitar rendition led by Dylan and Mark Knopfler, the new seven-inch features two full-band takes featuring Dylan, Knopfler, Mick Taylor, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

Only the A-side of the single (“take 1”) will only be available on the seven-inch, but the B-side (“take 5”) will also appear on the forthcoming upcoming Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985), which arrives on September 17. 

That album will feature studio outtakes from classic Dylan albums such as 1981’s Shot of Love, 1983’s Infidels, and 1985’s Empire Burlesque.

Elsewhere, Dylan recently prevailed in a royalty lawsuit against the estate of late songwriter Jacques Levy.

The estate of the co-writer of Dylan’s 1976 album Desire was handed a defeat on Friday (July 30) in a lawsuit against Dylan and Universal Music Group which hoped to establish co-ownership of the songs that Levy had a hand in.