Bob Dylan, arguably the greatest songwriter in popular music history, brings his Long Hot Summer tour to Ascend Amphitheater Saturday night. Dylan has had a long relationship with Nashville dating back to 1966 when he first came to the city to record Blonde on Blonde, the acclaimed double album many consider his finest work. Between 1967 and 1970, he recorded two more albums here, and most of a fourth. Since then, a slew of Nashville musicians have worked in his band, especially guitarists. The list of Nashville axmen who’ve played with Dylan over the past 35 years includes John Jackson, Bucky Baxter, Billy Burnette, Colin Linden, Bob Britt and Doug Lancio. Under circumstances that remain unclear, Lancio left Dylan’s band in mid-June, and Britt followed two weeks later. Lancio has yet to comment publicly about his departure, but in a Facebook post dated June 29 Britt stated, “I was not fired, but left of my own accord for reasons I would prefer to keep private.” Since Lancio and Britt left the band, Dylan has used a trio of rotating guitarists — Joel Paterson, Julian Lage and Jad Tariq — to round out the band’s lineup, which includes drummer Anton Fig and bassist Tony Garnier. At press time, it was not known which of the guitarists will be with him Saturday night. Americana legend Lucinda Williams and blues rockers Jimmie Vaughan and the Tilt-A-Whirl Band open.
7 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater
310 First Ave. S.
