MN musician Huckfelt produces original Bob Dylan documentary for KAXE

David Huckfelt believes the influence of Bob Dylan extends well beyond particular songs or musical eras.

While writing and producing KAXE's original documentary Dylan: The North Star, singer-songwriter Huckfelt said he was fascinated by Dylan's influence on current Minnesota musicians.

contributed

/

Graham Tolbert

"He makes it possible for those of us who are passionate about poetry and music and songs to really get to work and to have kind of a North Star to follow," Huckfelt said during a recent KAXE Morning Show interview.

And follow that star, Huckfelt has. He is a founding member of Midwest indie group The Pines along with his solo career. David Fricke from Rolling Stone described him as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. He has shared stages with John Prine, Mavis Staples & Emmylou Harris, Bon Iver, Calexico and Trampled by Turtles.

“I was so honored to get the chance to do this,” Huckfelt said. " ... You really can trace the arc of a story, so I learned a lot about Dylan's affinity for Minnesota, the way he kind of sees the Iron Range."

Dylan: The North Star is a two-hour documentary funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota. Included in the project is music journalist Martin Keller, who interviewed Bob Dylan in 1983 for an unprecedented four-and-a-half-hour interview.

Minnesota Music

Trampled By Turtles working on new album with Dead Man Winter, says Dave Simonett

Malachy Koons

Dave Simonett talks new Trampled by Turtles music and touring with country superstar Zach Bryan.

Listen • 17:32

"When I found out about the project, I thought of all my friends that love certain aspects of Dylan songs or certain parts of his career and just how to be an artist throughout your whole life and keep working and creating and giving the world stuff," Huckfelt said. "And it was really fun to put it together."

Huckfelt described his deep dive into Dylan's poetic lyrics as stratospheric.

"They [the lyrics] go everywhere on Earth and beyond, but there's all kinds of ways to pluck out the Minnesota roots there, and I really wanted to focus on that because we're all from somewhere, and we have a connection to the land."

In the documentary, Huckfelt included mixer, engineer and producer Adam Krinsky, who owns a studio in St. Paul. For the last five years, Krinksy has been the front-of-house sound engineer for Trampled by Turtles.

"He's got his own admiration for Dylan," Huckfelt said. "Together, we sifted through innumerable interviews, and he's an editing wizard, so we were able to get a lot of music in the show."

The goal was a balance of talking and music, with a focus on Minnesota bands like Low, covering Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door."

contributed

/

David Huckfelt

Huckfelt himself collaborated musically with Jeremy Ylvisaker for a cover of "Not Dark Yet" from Dylan's Time Out of Mind album.

"My friend Ingrid Weiss made a video that features footage from the North Shore and the Iron Range," Huckfelt said. "I'm so thankful for those collaborators."

Also included in the project is a playlist of over 100 quintessential Dylan tracks from each official release.

"There are towering figures in the world of music who kind of become a relic," Huckfelt said.

"And that's something that Dylan has always refused. He's been on tour playing 10 or 11 songs from his newest record Rough and Rowdy Ways, and it's a model to us who want to make music that we can continue to reinvent and do the new."

Tune in to KAXE on Monday, Sept. 2 — Labor Day — at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. or Saturday, Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. for "Dylan: The North Star."

What does Bob Dylan mean to you? Let us know!