CHATSWORTH, CA (Burning Rose Media Relations) - Features Gospel Stars Shirley Caesar,
Aaron Neville, Dottie Peoples, Mighty Clouds of Joy,
Chicago Mass Choir, and
Sounds of Blackness, Among Those from Grammy Nominated Album
- Marks First Release of Footage from Bob Dylan's Controversial Gospel Tours
Image Entertainment announces the February 7 release of the DVD "GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY: THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN." The music documentary showcases this important body of Bob Dylan's work and its profound effect on a who's who of modern gospel artists. The film features roof-raising performances, an insider's look at the making of the album of the same name, and presents revealing interviews with artists including Shirley Caesar, Aaron Neville, Fairfield Four, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Dottie Peoples discussing their personal relationship with Dylan's words.
The documentary premiers live footage of Bob Dylan performing "When He Returns," from a 1980 all-gospel concert, marking the first archival footage released from the most controversial era of his career. "This was Bob Dylan's ultimate rebellion, and it took much more courage than strapping on an electric guitar," says the film's producer Jeffrey Gaskill.
The project offers historical insights into this significant but underappreciated Bob Dylan era provided by Jim Keltner, Fred Tackett, Spooner Oldham, and Regina McCrary - all of whom performed and recorded with Dylan during his gospel period. Famed record producer Jerry Wexler, who produced the records, and music journalists Paul Williams and Alan Light, also appear.
Louvinia Pointer, 89-year old director of Brooklyn's Great Day Chorale, tells an interviewer 'the words spoke so much to my faith that we had to be apart of (this film), I have used "In the Garden," the lyrics to that song, to minister to my choir and to minister to other people I have met.'
In 2003, the all-star cast, recorded the new versions of Dylan's songs and the resulting album was nominated for two GRAMMY Awards and hailed with critical acclaim.
"Another corner of American music has, appropriately, claimed Dylan as its own," said the Associated Press.
Entertainment Weekly suggested that "Even agnostics may now agree there was something nearly supernatural about Dylan's mastery of an unlikely idiom-black gospel."
