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Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Madelyn Quebec (vocals, keyboards); Danny Kortchmar, Steve Jones, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton (guitar); Kevin Savigar, Beau Hill, Michell Froom, Alan Clarke (keyboards); Randy Jackson, Paul Simonon, Robbie Shakespeare, Ron Wood, Kip Winger, Nathan East, Larry Klein (bass); Steve Jordan, Stephen Shelton, Myron Grambacher, Sly Dunbar, Henry Spinetti, Mike Baird (drums); Bobby King, Willie Green, Full Force, Carol Dennis, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Brent Mydland, Peggi Blu, Alexandra Brown (background vocals). No two songs on DOWN IN THE GROOVE come from the same session, the tone fluctuates from raucous to pensive to somber in a heartbeat, and former punks and hair-metal stalwarts contribute as much to these recordings as Eric Clapton and members of the Grateful Dead. Yet Dylan held something in his sights, pitting covers of smoking R&B standards against original dirges, traditional folk songs against new proclamations that felt timeless. Best of all were the two collaborations with Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. "Ugliest Girl in the World" is a bit of rocked-up whimsy. And "Silvio" has become the '80s song Dylan has most taken to heart, performing it nightly well into the '90s. In its form (a typical proto-Dead roots boogie), and its content (rumination on the honesty and integrity of longtime storytellers), it reflects back on the song's authors. It is an anthem in defense of a bard, written at a time when the populace assumed this bard had lost his powers. But DOWN IN THE GROOVE assured that even a staggering Dylan could pull magic out of his sleeve almost at will.
