This week’s column features recent photos taken by ND photographers at a variety of shows. The highlight for me is those taken by Astrida Valigorsky this past Friday, February 20, 2026, at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma celebrating the 60th anniversary of Bob Dylan's seminal Blonde on Blonde album.
The show, titled “Sooner or Later,” was presented by the Bob Dylan Center. Performers included Natalie Merchant, Robyn Hitchcock, The McCrary Sisters, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Nellie McKay, Willie Nile, The Cactus Blossoms, and others. Two weeks prior, the center presented a “Ten Songs (Plus One or Two)” listening session of songs from the album recorded by mega fans such as Jeff Buckley, Cat Power, Robyn Hitchcock, and Emma Swift.
For the uninitiated, Dylan recorded some of the album’s songs in late 1965 in New York, but was extremely unhappy with the results, which did not match what he heard in his head. Instead he took producer Bob Johnson’s recommendation to give some Nashville studio musicians a try. Dylan rolled into town on the evening of February 14, 1966 and began recording sessions unlike any other anywhere, let alone Nashville. The result was, likewise, unlike anything you’d find in your neighborhood record store. Then or now.
