I say the best Dylan covers are made by black artists. All Along The Watchtower being the most -

[The Polack MSgt]

Famous.

Need more examples?

Well, R.L. Burnside and Raphael Saadiq both released reinterpretations of Bob's songs.

R.L.'s "Everything is Broken" and Raphael's "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" are both songs that you should already love.

But whatever...

This one isn't always on my play list. I gotta be in a mood, but RATM owns this song..

[Lithos]

1. Dylan's music has been successful for many other people

"If Not For You" - George Harrison
"Blowin in the Wind" - Peter Paul and Mary and also by Sam Cooke (Both are great versions - different reasons).
"Mighty Quinn" - Manfred Mann
"All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
"Tangled up in Blue" - Indigo Girls

etc.

Great Artist who has written some great material which allows for a wide range of interpretation.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. I get that and I won't take anything away from any artist who are mining in Bob's songbook

He's a genius and his songs are durable enough for interpretation/adaption by other artists.

But I feel that the injection of R&B and Funk make his songs better - Hitting it on the one transforms the song... To me anyway.

Here, listen to this

[OilemFirchen]

3. "This Wheel's on Fire" by The Band.

"When I Paint My Masterpiece", ibid.

[Walleye]

6. I loved that "when I paint my masterpiece" on the band album

[The Polack MSgt]

4. I mean no disrespect to any other artists.

But...

[Walleye]

7. Always liked that song, never heard that record, it's great! thanks for posting

One of the many songs especially Dylan songs that I find myself singing from out of nowhere sometimes

[The Polack MSgt]

5. there's always more

[thucythucy]

8. A case in point

Edited to add: The great Freddie King doing "Meet Me in the Morning."

[The Polack MSgt]

9. I absolutely love Freddy King. This is a cool cover too

Natalie Cole covering Bob's "Serve Somebody"

Etta James does a strong version too

[thucythucy]

10. Natalie Cole is awesome.

As is Etta.

Thanks for these, as always.

[Beausoleil]

13. Loved the Texas Cannonball! n/t

[Beausoleil]

11. How about Taj Mahal!

This is a great cover of an obscure Dylan song I've been listening to a lot lately and there are quite a few great covers. Folks like Linda Ronstadt, Ricky Nelson, Odetta and The Dillards have covered this song. Sierra Ferrell has a good quirky version and I really like Ryan Bingham's too

I never knew that Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder were in a band together in the 60's before I found this gem.

Definite R&B flavor to this when others covered it as a folk/bluegrass song.

[The Polack MSgt]

12. Never heard this cut. Thanks Beausoleil

Appreciate the knowledge

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Sorry, Sarge

Seems like cherry picking.
And, it's extremely influenced by personal taste.
I don't think the comparison is valid.

[The Polack MSgt]

15. Absolutely it's completely influenced by my personal tastes

The post implicitly states that "in my opinion" Blues and R&B artists do the best Dylan covers

When you compare the number of R&B artists covering Dylan songs against the number of pop, country, bluegrass & rock artists, well, of course it'd look like cherry picking.

After all, the black artists are out numbered 10-1 or more.

I don't feel at all obligated to go out of my way to find a mediocre take by an R&B singer just to deflect accusations of "Cherry Picking" - I pick the best possible examples I can find to support my point of view for all these posts

But I ain't mad. They make smooth and crunchy because folks can't even agree on peanut butter...