Bob Dylan has launched a Patreon account featuring exclusive content that has left fans scratching their heads. The singer-songwriter shared an Instagram story on Sunday, March 29, promoting ‘Lectures From the Grave,’ a series available for $5 monthly subscribers.
Exclusive Patreon Content
Dylan’s new Patreon currently hosts six posts. The debut entry embeds a video of Mahalia Jackson’s performance. Three subsequent posts deliver audio essays, apparently voiced by AI, exploring historical figures: former Vice President Aaron Burr, 19th-century outlaw Frank James, and American folk hero Wild Bill Hickok.
Another series, ‘Letters Never Sent,’ kicks off with a fictional letter from Mark Twain addressed to silent film star Rudolph Valentino—who was just 14 when Twain passed away in 1910. The letter closes with Twain’s cursive signature and credits the pen name ‘Herbert Foster.’
A short story titled ‘Bull Rider,’ authored by Marty Lombard, recounts a man’s quest to experience bull riding at a Texas rodeo. It opens vividly: ‘The bus coughed me out somewhere past Amarillo, dust in my teeth and a sky that stretched out so wide it felt like it was laughing at me. I had a duffel bag, two shirts, a paperback of The Sea Wolf with the spine cracked like an old man’s knuckles, and the kind of hunger you don’t fix with food.’
Fan Reactions and Dylan’s Unpredictability
The Nobel Prize-winning artist has stunned supporters with this venture, especially the apparent use of AI-generated material. One X user commented, ‘Bob Dylan AI history patreon just confirms he is in the very top percentile of weirdest/most inexplicable people ever born.’ Another added, ‘Guaranteed to zig when you think he’ll zag every single time.’
Ongoing Tour and Recent Highlights
Dylan resumes his ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ tour tonight, March 30, at Waukegan’s Genesee Theatre, with dates running through the finale on May 1 in Abilene, Texas.
Recent tour moments include a tribute to Shane MacGowan via a cover of ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’ during a Dublin performance last November. In another Irish show, he delivered a traditional folk ballad for the first time in 34 years. Earlier, a fan site operator faced ejection from a Glasgow venue after recirculating live photos and footage, despite the tour’s no-camera policy.
Reports indicate Dylan collaborated on new music with band members in Albany, New York, last year. He also features on Willie Nelson’s upcoming album ‘Dream Chaser,’ set for release in May.
