Songs from one of the most important eras of modern music may soon be re-released. As part of his “Bootleg” series of live, previously unreleased recordings, Bob Dylan is reportedly planning on releasing a collection of songs from his gospel era. Between 1979 and 1981, the legendary singer/songwriter released songs inspired by faith.
In the late ‘70s, Dylan famously converted to Christianity, and began writing religious songs. Many of the songs on the albums Slow Train Coming and Saved have deeply Christian themes with titles like “In the Garden,” “Solid Rock,” “Precious Angel” and “Gotta Serve Somebody.”
In “Saving Grace,” he sings,
Well, the death of life, then come the resurrection / Wherever I am welcome is where I’ll be / I put all my confidence in Him, my sole protection / Is the saving grace that’s over me
And …
The wicked know no peace and you just can’t fake it / There’s only one road and it leads to Calvary / It gets discouraging at times, but I know I’ll make it / By the saving grace that’s over me.
As a source explained to Rolling Stone, “The gospel is a lot of stuff that people ignored. Bob continued to tweak the gospel stuff on the road for a couple of years. It kept mutating.”