We taped it and went to bed, so haven't watched all of it, yet. I have found myself wondering what Rick Fielding had to say about Dylan, though, so did a little research. Here's one of his many comments:

Subject: RE: Dylan overrated?You've got to be kidding
From: Rick Fielding - PM
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 01:11 AM

AIEEEE CHEEWAWAAA! NO, NO, NO, and No again (just for emphasis!!)

I NEVER EVER referred to the songs mentioned as examples of Dylan's fine picking.

When I saw him live at Massey Hall here in Toronto he was doing his "It's all right Ma" etc. repertoire. By then he'd settled into a totally minimalist approach, doing virtually everything in Dropped D, with a very rudimentary chord strum.

The songs that impressed me (guitar wise) were on his FIRST ALBUM ONLY!

Listen to it and you'll hear very solid fast flat-picked runs. Strong driving rhythm, workmanlike (but accurate) slide guitar. A great riff (possibly lifted from The Everlys "Wake Up Little Suzie"). A D9th used ONLY by Dave Van Ronk at the time (it WAS 1961!) and one of the most inventive Eb chords I could imagine. Certainly MUCH better than the other singer-songwriters.

He never again came close to playing like that, but I gather that was by choice. Get the FIRST album. You'll see what I mean.

P.S. His tuning sucked though, and his strings must have been a hundred years old!

Cheers

From the same thread:

From: Rick Fielding - PM
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 11:36 AM

Yeah Whistle, I was about 14, and it simply blew me away. I WILL say however, that I never thought Dylan's playing was on the same planet as SOME of the trad artists I'd heard by then, merely that when I read the initial reviews of that album it appeared to me that NONE of the reviewers seemed even remotely aware of the techniques he was using.

For example, Bill Monroe's (not anybody else's) patented yodel on Roy Acuff's Freight train Blues.

The fast flatpicking (in two different styles) on the former song and on Joe Williams' Highway 51.

The full SIX STRING chords on House of the Rising Sun. Dave Van Ronk's arrangement no doubt, but Van Ronk simply didn't DRIVE it like that....maybe nobody has since.

One of the things that I remember from that time was the almost (almost hell!) religious fervour that overcame me when I heard people like Dylan, Dock Boggs, Estil C. Ball, Fred Gerlach, Leadbelly, Bukka White, etc.

It was quite different from what I felt upon hearing The Weavers, Pete S. Paxton, Ochs, etc. that was more cerebral.

A perfect example was an album by Paul Clayton. (Dylan's friend) Clayton sung and played the songs with some skill and certainly a reverence for tradition....Dylan just ripped them apart with a "fuck you" attitude....but he still had discipline and timing to go with all that drive.

Cheers