Day 9 - St. Louis, MO - Iowa - Minneapolis, MN

Today was a long, long drive - around 600 miles all told...but I reached Minneapolis and am very close to the end of the road, to the end of the river (Mississippi) and to the place where Dylan came from.

Every year on my road trips there are typically three types of near disaster:

1. No Hotel - (this happened last night until I was saved accidentally at the Crowne Plaza)
2. No gas - this is yet to happen this year.
3. No toilet....

Today was "no toilet" day...

Dining on Nacho chips with extra jalapenos chillis and extra hot sauce last night - all washed down with St. Louis's finest beer Budweiser (now Brussel's most famous beer after the InBev takeover of Anheuser Busch) meant that today was always likely to be a bit touch and go on the alimentary front....

Sure enough as I approached Hannibal, Missouri - home of Mark Twain - my stomach alerted me to the need to find facilities. Usually the road is mobbed with fast food joints, gas stations and assorted other places with clean(ish) toilets - but not running up to Hannibal.

With what was approaching some desperation I pulled off Highway 61 and into Hannibal proper with the hope of locating somewhere suitable. Alas it was not to be and the point of no return was fast approaching.

In a flash of genius I programmed Jenny the GPS to direct me to the nearest fast food joint and consequently a bathroom. Jenny's menu doesn't extend to lavatories.

Unfortunately for me Jenny decided to take a rather scenic route... At one point I lost my temper. Jenny suggested taking a right on "Huckleberry Drive". I saw another windy road to nowhere ahead and screamed at her, shouting "If you don't get me there quickly, I'm going to Huckleberry my shorts!".

By the grace of God the windy road delivered me in short order to a Kentucky Fried Chicken and salvation. I managed to avoid "Tom Sawyering" myself. Lord have mercy.

After the "relief" of Hannibal I headed back on to Highway 61 and north aiming at Minneapolis. The road was long and would take me through Iowa before reaching Minnesota and the birthplace of Bob Dylan.

In celebration of Mr. Zimmerman I listened to three of his finest albums:

1. Blood on The Tracks - 1975 (the post separation album)
2. Desire - 1976 (the one with Joey, Hurricane, Black Diamond Bay and the intensely poignant Sara - dedicated to the former Mrs. Dylan.)
3. Modern Times - his most recent and quite excellent album of which half the songs are blues songs

Blood on the Tracks is without doubt my all time favourite Dylan album and one of my favourite albums overall. It is also harrowing and painful in its descriptions of pain, anger and sadness. Thus it is cathartic.

The opening number - "Tangled Up In Blue" - is a perfect road trip song tracking an itinerant journey and an itinerant relationship with a nice reference to Dante Alighieri on the way ("Written by an Italian poet from the 13th century")

"You're A Big Girl Now", "Idiot Wind", "Simple Twist of Fate" - Dylan catalogues the various stages of relationships, and the emotions that go with them. "Meet Me In the Morning" is a fine blues - which I thought I might try and cover when I get home - and "Shelter From the Storm" is a classic. One of my favourites - which I learned how to play from a busker in London - is "If You See Her Say Hello"... Great lyrics sum up the digestion of a lost love and the memories that linger on. Anyone who denies Dylan is a poet is just plain wrong.

[Nerd alert: Blood on the Tracks was originally completed, produced and recorded in New York and was produced by Phil Ramone. Then shortly before it's scheduled release, Dylan changes his mind and re-records five of the songs again in Minneapolis with his brother David Zimmerman producing. No-one knows why he changed his mind.]

"Desire" is a rather different affair - two epic songs, both about real people. Rubin Carter, the black boxer framed for a triple murder, is heroically immortalised in Hurricane and Joey Gallo the Brooklyn mafia gangster is humanised in Joey. Both great songs. But "Romance in Durango", "One More Cup of Coffee" and "Isis" also have a great deal of charm. Desire sees more violin and slightly less harmonica than previous Dylan albums and the record (yes - I first got it on vinyl years ago and still think of it as a record!) ends with the melancholic, reflective and ultimately depressing eulogy to his love of Sara. She is beatified and elevated to sainthood in this moving song which cross references his own previous work dedicated to her..."Staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel Writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you"...

[Nerd alert: the beautiful female vocals are supplied by the wonderful Emmylou Harris. She was the only artist on the album not totally happy with the final recording in New York and had to go back the next day and lay down some tracks again to be overdubbed.]

"Modern Times" is altogether different again. Apart from being very bluesy and jazzy in parts, it is a Dylan who is having fun. A Dylan who has done it all. Has nothing left to prove other than a) he's still alive, kicking and strumming and b) that he can just do good music which both he and audiences love. He admirably succeeds in both - and the album is brilliant. A contemporary Dylan featured Scarlett Johannsen in his video of Thunder in the Mountain and references New York musician Alicia Keys. Very modern times indeed Bob!

[Nerd alert: the album is produced by Jack Frost. Jack Frost is in fact a pseudonym for Bob Dylan.]

After Dylan, I listened to a few songs of Canadian musician Neil Young. A man from a similar era Young's "After The Gold Rush" remains one of my favourite albums and I listened to about half of it on the road before needing a "genre" change...

Well into Iowa and its never ending fields, pretty houses and distinctive barns, I felt the need for Tom Waits ( it was the great song "Christmas Card from Hooker in Minneapolis" that got me thinking about Waits as I headed towards Minneapolis).

First things first and the seminal "Closing Time" from 1973. If I was sent to a Desert Island and only allowed one CD - this could very well be it. Who couldn't cry with "Martha" or dance to "Ice Cream Man". This album has it all. It's cool, it's sad, it's upbeat, it's downbeat, it's about life, love, cats and dogs. And ice cream. Wait's lyrics are genius and his music is genius. He is a genius. Full stop.
From "Closing Time" to "Blue Valentine" and two favourites of mine - "Christmas Card from a Hooker In Minneapolis" and "29 Dollars".

The first is a classic Wait's tale - seedy, sordid and ending in an unpredictable and poignant twist.

The second is a cool blues with the irresistible refrain "Got 29 dollars....and an alligator purse..." Joy!

Bouncing through some tracks from the albums "Small Change" and "Heartattack & Vine" concluded an extended Wait's session as I crossed into Minnesota - home of Spam (and indeed the only museum in the world devoted to Spam)

Tom Waits was followed by two albums from one of my favourite artists and possibly the best guitarist alive.

Mark Knopfler is, in my opinion, the most interesting and talented recording artist working today. His guitar playing is exquisite. Perfect balance, masterful fingering, complex musically but so simple to the ear and with such feeling and sensitivity. He is also one of the best arrangers of music and his solo work demonstrates a great sense of balance and respect for all the instruments and musicians. Unlike many guitarists, Knopfler avoids the temptation to dominate and instead arranges his music generously and with the "big picture" (or perhaps "Big sound") clearly in mind.

His lyrics are also wonderful - each song a story, many inspired by history or by simple observations of life. He is a great observer of human nature and character as well as having a huge talent for capturing mood and feeling. The Dickens of modern music.

He effortlessly switches between the genres which have been his inspiration and which he clearly loves - blues, folk, country, skiffle and rock. He also switches instruments from acoustic guitar, slide, his trusty Les Paul, Strats, the Rudy Pensa hand made MK series guitars (which were custom made for Mark during the Dire Straits era), steel resonators and a variety of rare and vintage guitars with unique and special sounds. This adds to the diversity and richness of his solo work. It is no wonder that so many people invite Mark to produce them, produce scores for movies or to guest on their work.

Heading to Minneapolis I listened to two of Mark's finest solo albums - "Sailing to Philadelphia" and "Shangri La".

I wrote about both these albums quite extensively last year on Route 66 so won't go into too much here.

"Sailing to Philadelphia" crosses the Atlantic with great blues about a drug addict in North London ("Junkie Doll") and the white elephant that was the Millennium Dome ("Silvertown Way") to the Mason Dixie line in the title song of the album and car racing in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. A great album, only bettered by his later album "Shangri La".

This is another album which would join "Closing Time" and "Blood on the Tracks" on my desert island. Every song is a work of genius. Perhaps his best work as a complete album with fantastic lyric writing matching superb guitar work and a more in depth study of different American music genres as well as some great English folk inspired songs. "5.15am" - the opening number - is a great homage to Newcastle where he grew up with a heavy nod to the British classic film "Get Carter". "Boom Like That" - the story of McDonald's. "Back to Tupelo" - the reflective and bluesy story of Elvis Presley and his management. "Song for Sonny Liston" a poignant song about a broken man - the great but flawed boxer Sonny Liston. The list goes on. Just a truly wonderful album which gets better with every listen. (Most of Knopfler's music gets better the more you listen to it as you discover different layers and nuances both lyrically and musically).

I saw him live at the Albert Hall in London recently which was a great experience. This is a man that moves you but is so subtle, understated, softly spoken and focused. He also has a tremendous sense of fun.

Thank you Mark for giving me such enormous pleasure, inspiration and an almost impossible level of guitar playing to aspire to over the rest of my years.

The last song I listened to entering Minneapolis was from his Dire Straits years - Sultans of Swing. His first massive hit and one of those songs which every serious guitar player tries to master and which nearly every all of us fails to do so. It's damn hard and damn good.

A Ramada provided shelter from the storm in a suburb of Minneapolis and some tacos from a Mexican restaurant across the street kept the wolf from the door. After 600 miles I was dead tired and ready for a big sleep.

Tomorrow Duluth, Minnesota by Lake Superior and the home of Dylan...