Bob Dylan has reportedly changed the line-up of his band mid-tour.
Guitarist Duke Robillard, who has been playing with Dylan since April 2013, has been replaced by Charlie Sexton.
Robillard, who has also toured with Tom Waits, first played with Dylan on tracks from 1997’s Time Out Of Mind album. His arrival on the Dylan tour earlier this year marked the first change to Dylan’s touring band since Sexton replaced guitarist Denny Freeman in October 2009.
Although Robillard’s departure from the tour has yet to be officially confirmed, the guitarist hinted at trouble in the Dylan camp on several Facebook posts. According to The Bob Dylan Examiner, Robillard posted on June 30:
“For sale Bob Dylan CD and record collection for sale slightly used.”
Followed by:
“I will be selling a lot of guitars and amps soon. I’ll keep you posted…”
The first post is no longer on Robillard’s Facebook page.
Robillard was originally brought in to Dylan’s touring band as a replacement for Charlie Sexton. Sexton first played with Dylan’s band between 1999 and 2002. He returned in 2009 and played through until the end of 2012. When Dylan started touring again in April this year, Sexton was rumoured to be unavailable to play.
Although no formal reason has been given for Robillard’s departure, according to a poster – tom thumb – on the message boards for Dylan fan site Expecting Rain, “At Bob’s show in Atlanta last night [June 29], Dylan got visibly upset 2 or 3 times when Duke came in at the wrong time – for instance, apparently inserting a guitar solo, or lick, right over Dylan’s harmonica or the next verse of a song.”
Writing about the same show, another poster, unclejohn, said: “duke snatched a guitar solo in simple twist of fate last night, bob stopped playin and turned around and just watched, he was kinda pissed……. and in highwater bob just turned around and faced the drums for a while and did not seem happy, duke was steepin on the harmonica spots.”
Sexton played at last night’s [July 2] show in Memphis, Tennessee – the fifth date of the current AmericanaramA tour with Wilco and My Morning Jacket.