Bob Dylan has left fans confused after quietly launching a Patreon page.
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On Sunday March 29, the legendary songwriter shared an Instagram story featuring a poster for Lectures From the Grave, a new exclusive series available through his Patreon, which is priced at five dollars per month.
So far, Dylan’s Patreon page contains only six uploads. The first is a video clip of Mahalia Jackson performing, followed by three audio style essays that appear to be narrated using an artificial voice. The topics cover former US Vice President Aaron Burr, 1800s outlaw Frank James, and American folk legend Wild Bill.
Another section on the page is called Letters Never Sent. At the moment it includes one fictional letter imagined as being written by Mark Twain to silent film star Rudolph Valentino, even though Valentino was only 14 years old when Twain passed away in 1910. The piece ends with Twain’s signature and is credited to the pseudonym “Herbert Foster”.
There is also a short story titled Bull Rider, credited to Marty Lombard, which follows a character traveling to a Texas rodeo with the goal of trying his luck at bull riding.“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,” the passage reads (via Pitchfork). “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.”
Dylan’s latest creative move has surprised many followers, especially because several of the posts appear to involve artificial intelligence. “Bob Dylan AI history patreon just confirms he is in the very top percentile of weirdest or most inexplicable people ever born,” one user wrote on X following the launch.
“Guaranteed to zig when you think he will zag every single time,” another person commented.
Meanwhile, Dylan is continuing his Rough And Rowdy Ways tour with a show scheduled tonight March 30 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. The current run of dates is set to continue through to the last confirmed performance in Abilene Texas on May 1.
In other recent appearances, Dylan honored Shane MacGowan with a performance of A Rainy Night In Soho in Dublin last November, and during another Irish show he played a traditional folk song live for the first time in 34 years.
Earlier during the tour, the owner of a Dylan fan website said he was removed from a Glasgow concert after being told he was considered an “unwanted person”. He claimed the removal was linked to him sharing live photos and videos from the tour, which enforces a strict ban on recording devices and mobile phones.
Reports also emerged last year that Dylan had been recording new material with members of his touring band in Albany New York. He has also made a guest appearance on Willie Nelson’s upcoming album Dream Chaser, which is scheduled for release in May.
