During June, 2005, Jim conducted a wide ranging interview with his namesake, Jim Smedley.

Part One covers some of his early musical memories and recalls some musical highlights.

In Part Two, Jim talks about his own music and his approach to songwriting.

In Part Three he talks about some of the songs on American Dream. 

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Relevant questions (and Jim's answers) will be  added to this website, but only after permission has been received by the person asking the question!

Bob Dylan's 1966 Australian Tour

In Part One of a three part interview published on this website, Jim recalled seeing Bob Dylan on his first tour of Australia in 1966. When asked if this concert included The Band, Jim couldn't remember.

However, if the information is available anywhere, it will almost certainly be available on the Internet, and this proved to be the case here as well.

Yes, The Band did tour Australia with Bob Dylan in April 1966. The full itinerary was as follows...

BOB DYLAN'S AUSTRALIAN TOUR ITINERARY - APRIL 1966 
13th: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at Sydney Stadium
15th: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at the Festival Hall, Brisbane
16th: Bob Dylan & The Band perform their second show at Sydney Stadium
19th: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at the Melbourne Festival Hall
20th: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at the Melbourne Festival Hall
22nd: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at the Palais Royal, Adelaide
23rd: Bob Dylan & The Band perform at their last Australian concert at the Capitol Theatre, Perth

So Jim, who would have been 17 at the time, saw Bob Dylan backed by members of The Band at their April 22nd concert at the Palais Royal in Adelaide! 

Of course, to be historically correct, the band did not actually become The Band until well after the tour with Dylan had ended. But that's another story...

In the interview, Jim recalls... "I remember that he did the first half of the concert solo, and that he came back for the second half with a backing band, but I don't remember which musicians formed the backing band. And yes, his electric folk-rock set was greeted with lots of boo's and catcalls during the performance."

In fact, Levon Helm, the drummer for The Band, had become so fed up with the constant booing and catcalls on early legs of the world tour, that he quit the tour in November 1965, and did not take part in the Australian or European legs of the tour. 

His place was taken by Mickey Jones, a Texan who had enjoyed successful gigs with Trini Lopez and Johnny Rivers amongst others. 

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