Old friend to auction tape of teen Dylan

[Esau.]

The article says one of the first recordings (which it is), but this one - John Bucklen Tape, Hibbing, MN c.1958 which can be found on I Was So Much Younger... precedes it. Still I hope it makes it to the public one way or another.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/09/27/dylan-tapes.html?ref=rss

A man who was a teenage friend of Bobby Zimmerman plans to auction a tape of him singing and playing guitar, which could be one of the first recordings of the artist who came to be known as Bob Dylan.

Ric Kangas was a teenager in northern Minnesota when he met Zimmerman, who was two years behind him in school.

Before he became Bob Dylan, he was Bobby Zimmerman. This photo is from Martin Scorcese's documentary, No Direction Home. A high school friend who recorded Dylan singing in 1959 will auction the tape later this year.

(Paramount Home Entertainment)

Zimmerman would change his name to Bob Dylan when he left for Minneapolis and went on to acclaim as a singer-songwriter.

Kangas had played at a school talent show and the young Dylan liked what he heard.

"He said, 'Hey, I understand you write songs,' " recalled Kangas, now 67.

The two played guitar and sang together and at one 1959 session, Kangas, now a resident of Santa Barbara, Calif., recorded him playing.

Dylan sings three songs on the tape, including I Got Trouble and I Got a New Girl in a much more melodic style than his fans would recognize.

On the third "he kind of sings like a frog," Kangas said. In that song, The Frog Song, Dylan is imitating one of his heroes, Clarence (Frogman) Henry, who used a croaking vocal style in the 1956 hit Ain't Got No Home.

Kangas said he rediscovered the tape years later.

The tape, which requires a reel-to-reel player, could be worth $100,000 US, according to one expert in Dylan memorabilia.

Kangas worked as a photographer, actor and Elvis impersonator, but has not seen his old friend since 1974.

An auction for the tape will be held through Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas on Oct. 6-7.

Dylan now has a satellite radio show and recently released a bestselling album, Modern Times.