One of Australia's most loved and respected actors will take his love for an iconic musician on the road.
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Bob Dylan music's impact on popular culture cannot be disputed. With songs filling protesters of the civil rights and the anti-war movements full of inspiration, he also inspired a gentleman by the name of John Waters.
John Waters is one of Australia's most recognised and respected television, film and theatrical actors. He is still widely loved and remembered for his long running appearance on Playschool from 1972 to 1991.
He also appeared on our television screens in: All The Rivers Run, Rush, All Saints, Sea Patrol, Offspring, Rake and most recently on ABC TV's Mystery Road.
Now Waters is taking his new show, John Waters, Dylan Revisited on the road and Dylan's inspiration to this day still fulfills Waters.
"I first heard Dylan when I was 14 in 1963," Waters said.
"There was a guy on television by the name of Don Leitch better known as Donnovan who was singing Bob Dylan songs. We hadn't heard Dylan and we thought they were fantastic songs.
"When England finally received Dylan's records, they were a category of music we hadn't heard there before. They were very folky and American. I just loved them."
Bob Dylan has a deep selection of songs that inspire many different people. Waters is one of those people also.
"I loved House of the Rising Sun," Waters said.
"The Animals did a copy of it in the UK, but Mr Tambourine Man really did it for me. I thought it was such an expansion of what you could do with lyric writing, imagery and abstract lyrics."
Well known for his internationally acclaimed one-man show Through The Glass Onion, this show opened the door for Waters to turn his attention to Dylan Revisited.
"It was a job I accepted and offered to me," Waters said.
"I'd toured around a lot with the John Lennon show Through the Glass Onion. I was then asked to if I'd like to do Bob Dylan songs on a regional tour and I thought yes, absolutely!
"I'd never performed a solid block of Bob Dylan songs. Only occasional ones Like A Rolling Stone. Now I'm covering the last 50 years of his songwriting."
The fine line between inspiration and impersonation can be difficult when covering an artists songs. With making Through the Glass Onion a Waters original, spectators can expect the same originality with Dylan Revisited.
"It's what you have to do with someone else's songs," Waters said.
"You get the chord charts out and with the band start going through the songs. I had a few little arrangement ideas of my own and so did Robbie Wolf who is our keyboardist.
"We just play them. Without trying to be different, you just put your own little licks in and suddenly you've got an atmosphere in a song that is originally all yours.
"I do the same with vocals. I'm not there to impersonate Bob Dylan, I sing like John Waters.
"It's coming along really well and I think he has songs that adapt to other people covering them. There are many reworkings of a Bob Dylan song.
"It's a matter of taking the song and making it your own, but not unrecognisable to the punters out there."
Along with originality and flair, viewers can expect the best Australia has to offer.
"Expect a top notch band," Waters said.
"These are some of the best musicians in the land. I've been very lucky to get the band that I wanted.
"They are going to hear Bob Dylan in a way that will sway some of the skeptics. A lot of people are ambivalent about Dylan. They'll say he's a great song writer but I don't listen to him much.
"The things they say they don't like about Dylan, you'll never hear that about another artist.
"I think you judge Dylan by the standards of others things you've heard, but you can't do that. He is a unique.
"Maybe there will be some converts to the songs of Bob Dylan because they really do stand out."
John Waters will be performing his Dylan Revisited show at the Mittagong RSL, Sunday October 13.
Tickets can be purchased at https://mittagongrsl.com.au/event/bob-dylan-revisited-john-waters/.
