Bob Dylan Enlists Joel Paterson As Lone Guitarist After Band Shakeup

There's been a new development with Bob Dylan's band. Over the past month, he's had an unexpected rotating roster of guitarists. On June 17, jazz virtuoso Julian Lage replaced guitarist Doug Lancio, who had been part of Dylan's band since replacing Charlie Sexton in 2021. On June 27, Bob Britt, who had been a guitarist with Dylan since 2019, not-so-subtly quit with a "Sayonara Bobby" post on Facebook. There's now word that there's a new guitarist in town for Bob's tour: Joel Paterson.

Last night, at his show at Moody Amphitheater in Austin, Dylan was joined onstage by Chicago jazz and blues musician Joel Paterson. Just as there was no confirmation that Lage was a permanent addition to Dylan's tour — most likely not, since he has international dates coming up in the next couple of weeks — there has also been no confirmation about Paterson.

If he hadn't been onstage for the Long Hot Summer Tour last night, Paterson would've played the 150-seat Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Chicago — he has (had) a weekly residency on Mondays.

Paterson does seem like a cool dude — he appeared in a closing scene of Twin Peaks Season 3, playing pedal steel with the Cactus Blossoms. He also got some great feedback in the Facebook The Bob Dylan Fan Club.