Throughout this Rolling Thunder 1976 anniversary series, I’ve emphasized all the ways this iteration of the tour differs from Rolling Thunder 1975. And there are many. But today might be the day that feels the most in the spirit of Rolling Thunder 1975.
Just like he did near the end of the ’75 tour, near the end of ’76, Dylan and the band played at a prison. This time, though, the appearance has nothing to do with Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything that I could figure out. For reasons that remain murky, Dylan and co. set up shop at a juvenile detention facility, the Gatesville State School for delinquent boys.
The show was a last-minute affair. Two Dallas shows were originally on the printed itinerary, according to a couple participants. But those were cancelled. Then plans were made for a free show in Austin at legendary music hall Armadillo World Headquarters. But that got scrapped too, in favor of this shortened performance for 300 juvenile delinquents.
Professor William Bush, who wrote a book about the history of the Texas juvenile system—where this Gatesville facility was particularly notorious—explains that this show came about because of a new boss tasked with fixing things up:
Ron Jackson was the executive director of the Texas Youth Council, the state agency that oversaw all of the state’s ‘training schools’ for juvenile delinquents. He ascended into that role thanks to a major class-action civil rights lawsuit that concluded in 1973-74. Jackson was considered much more progressive than his predecessor, and he was younger and clearly open to hosting a show like that.
Stage manager Gerry Bakal remembers that certain kids there, the worst offenders, were not going to be invited to attend. When Dylan heard about that, though, he objected. “Bob insisted that everybody sees the show or nobody’s going to see a show.” So they were all invited.
Bandleader Rob Stoner recalls the performance:
It was an admirably altruistic act of social conscience but terrible conditions. The poor kids at the institution didn’t know who Dylan was, sort of like at the NJ prison gig, where the inmates only attended because it was break from their daily routine. The daytime event was hot as hell and there was no canopy to shield us from the Texas sun.
As Stoner notes, this was the Rolling Thunder Revue out of its element, performing for an audience that did not necessarily care about Bob Dylan. “Play some Led Zeppelin,” someone yelled at one point.
They did not. Rather, they played a curtailed version of their usual show—just two hours, rather than four. Dylan played a shortened but otherwise unsurprising set, with no songs he hadn’t already played on the tour. The day’s big surprise Dylan song wasn’t actually performed by him. Joan Baez sang Dylan’s prison-themed folk song “Walls of Red Wing” for the occasion.
