A preview of Dylan’s new radio show has been heard by journalists — or at least by Reuters, as reproduced here by MSNBC.

In a preview recording of his show that debuts on May 3, the singer/songwriter/author is by turns playful and spooky, topical and historical, eager to share his favorite stories and records — and clearly having a ball.
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Fans have long combed through Dylan’s vast catalog of songs, his quirky, guarded public statements and even his garbage for clues to just about anything, and this show will be no exception.

He gives them plenty to work with, studding his show with self-referential jokes, including several proud mentions of his native state of Minnesota.

But at another point he observes, “We seem to be playing a lot of songs from New Orleans.”
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Thus, he makes a number of pointed but low-key comments about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. [Ed: what do you think Reuters is trying to imply there?]

And thus, Muddy Waters sings “Blow Wind Blow”; Jimi Hendrix, “The Wind Cries Mary”; Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wind”; and Dean Martin (with a Dixie brass band), “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine”.

Also aboard are Judy Garland, Irma Thomas, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, calypso’s Lord Beginner, Fats Domino, the Spaniels, the Staples Singers and the Carter Family — quite a varied group.
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Dylan also tells the story of Johnny Bragg, sent to a Tennessee penitentiary for rape in the 1940s, when “rape could have meant just looking at a white woman in the wrong way.” While a convict, Bragg formed a singing group and had a hit called “Just Walkin’ in the Rain.”

“A sad story. A beautiful song. ‘Just Walkin’ in the Rain.’ The Prisonaires,” Dylan announces.

Dylan obviously loves these people and songs, savoring the names of the musicians — and sometimes their wives — and fondly reciting favorite lines. He even quotes Stevie Wonder in Italian. Wonder did a number of foreign-language versions of “A Place in the Sun.”

That Dino track is currently available on a very fine CD called “Swingin’ Down Yonder.” Of-course Dean’s version of that was no doubt a big influence on one Elvis Presley’s rendition later in the 1950s. Elvis owed more than a little to Dean generally, it would seem.

The Sinatra track, “Summer Wind,” is available on Frank’s slightly odd 1966 album “Strangers in the Night.” The title track is, to me, a drag. “Summer Wind” on the other hand is a powerhouse tune and doesn’t get old no matter how many times it blares over the local bar’s jukebox. Most of the rest of the album is also pretty fun, years hence — it’s Sinatra’s final great collaboration with Nelson Riddle, and the driving arrangements featuring a big organ sound provide a unique setting for Frank’s singing. (It’s funny: I had thought Dylan might play Sinatra doing “Ill Wind,” from “In the Wee Small Hours.”)

Still can’t wait for Dylan’s show — though at this rate the entire content of it will be known before it actually airs.

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