David Mansfield Breaks Down a Rolling Thunder Setlist

1975-11-24, Civic Center, Hartford, CT

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Update June 2023: This interview is included along with 40+ others in my new book ‘Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members.’ Buy it in hardcover, paperback, or ebook here!

I love exploring the mythology that surrounds Rolling Thunder and learning all the behind-the-scenes stories. But the only reason I or anyone else cares about any of that is that, first and foremost, the music was so damn good. So I wanted to go deep song-by-song through a representative show, exploring the music, the arrangements, and what it was like to play each song with Bob and the band.

Who better to help me out than the man who played more instruments onstage than anyone else: David Mansfield. The baby of the tour, Mansfield was all of 19 when he signed on, yet he was, by all accounts, already one of the most talented players in the entire band. He occupied that “plays everything with strings” role Larry Campbell would many years later, playing pedal steel, violin, mandolin, and dobro (he could play guitar too, but figured, with what Rob Stoner referred to as “an army of guitar players” already, his six-string services weren’t needed).

I selected today’s show in Hartford, CT, and David gave me a guided tour of every song they played that night, as well as the other sets he played during. Here’s David in our song-by-song conversation:

Opening Guam Sets

I always had a soft spot for T-Bone's slot in the show. He would do a song he wrote called “Hula Hoop” or he did a song that Warren Zevon wrote called “Werewolves of London.” Everybody thought that T-Bone had written it, because that was way before Warren cut it. There was another he wrote called “Torture” that he used to do all the time. Whether they were the ones he wrote or that one that Warren wrote, they were just so smart and acerbic and hysterically funny. He had this cool Texas musical thing that was as much influenced by Jimmy Reed as The Beatles.

I was such a big Joni Mitchell fan. I had two vinyl copies of Blue. She was doing all songs that nobody had heard before, including one she wrote while she was on the road, “Coyote.” Her stuff wasn't really more challenging, even though it might have been sometimes harmonically a bit more complex. Dylan, Jack Elliott and Neuwirth had this way of playing the simple songs in a way that was so unpredictable that you had to be on your toes every second. It was actually quite musically challenging.

[On Rick Danko sitting in at today’s show:] I have such a strong memory of him on that tour. We used to do “It Makes No Difference” with him and an old Motown song. I think he did more than one show. He was extremely friendly and a real character. He was one of those people who just has no concept of personal space, and he’ll get right up three inches from your nose when he's talking to you.

The first time around there was never any talk of my doing a solo set. I wasn't a singer/songwriter and I didn't ask for a slot. I can't quite recall how it happened [on the second tour]. As they got to know me and saw what I did, I think someone just encouraged me that I should do something myself. It might have been Neuwirth; Neuwirth was always the great supporter and encourager and instigator.

I did [the Flatt & Scruggs bluegrass song] “Flint Hill Special” a lot in ‘76. I'd figured out this little way to do some of the banjo rolls on the pedal steel. I was just enamored with it and thought I might be able to pull it off. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't.

“When I Paint My Masterpiece”

It had this real carnival atmosphere about it, the sort of raggedy-ass circus arrangement that we played. Also the fact that Neuwirth and Dylan were singing harmony, and it was anybody's guess what note they might hit at any given point. Neither of them knows how to sing harmony, let's put it that way. Bobby is still one of my best friends and I'm saying that with all fondness.

I played mandolin on it and had a blast because I did all these chromatic lines in six. I was sort of imitating the way Garth [Hudson] played, which was a lot of fun. Compared to previous versions of that song, Bob revved the amps up on it. It had so much energy. He made this quirky, little mid-tempo song into a really exciting kinetic performance. It was lots of fun every night to be involved.

We had a director, Jacques Levy, so there were all sorts of theatrical elements, a backdrop and curtains going up and stuff. It wasn't just the usual musicians ambling on stage after all the amps have been heated up and guitars tuned. It really felt like a show. This arrangement of “Masterpiece” just made everybody feel like we were in for some special, unpredictable ride.

via IMDB

“It Ain’t Me Babe”

I was playing pedal steel guitar and I got to take a big solo that led up to Bob’s harmonica solo, which was really thrilling. I came up with this unorthodox, chime-y kind of solo that was a lot of fun to play. I was very young at the time. I probably chose many more notes to play than I would if I was older. One of the highlights of the evening for me personally.

[On how it got decided who would solo when:] As I recall, it just happened. There really wasn't anybody planning or directing anything, including Bob. He plays a song and the band just sort of falls in how they best can. Nobody is ever assigned to solo. Somebody steps out and it sticks. I mean, Rob would be in charge of count offs and cut offs and rehearsing the band when Bob wouldn't show up or would be late. Rob would sing the leads and we would go through the stuff, but it's still not the traditional music director position where you're handing out parts. It was all done totally by consensus and improvisation.

“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”

This was the mid-'70s and everybody was using an effects pedal called a phase shifter. We had a lot of them. I mean, Ronson was using one and T-Bone was using one. I had an early phase shifter that just had three switches on it. If you pressed all three of them, it would go very fast and it'd sound sort of like an organ. I put that effect on my pedal steel and a lot of times would play way up high, which is sort of a tremolo-y kind of sound.

That was another song where, again, it's like Dylan was like spitting out the words. It was so filled with passion and vitriol that it was very exciting every night to play it. Just to be along for the ride.

“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You”

I was playing pedal steel again. I played pedal steel a lot on the tour, because there was so many damn guitar players. It was like a shootout in the guitar store. It just was one way I could sonically fit into the palette. I certainly wasn't going to try and pick up a guitar. In fact, I think T-Bone was playing my guitar. It was a black Les Paul that I had brought to play and he ended up playing it. Also, Scarlett was around on violin, so I only played violin with other people like Jack Elliott or Bobby Neuwirth.

“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” was such a big number for us. I used to love playing on it because it was so intense. I got to do all kinds of dramatic effects on the pedal steel that were really fun.

They did that film, I'm Not There, a few years back. We did a concert at [the Beacon Theatre], and I played that song with My Morning Jacket. They obviously had learned the Rolling Thunder arrangement note for note. Jim James was totally channeling the intense, angry Bob from the '76 tour. It was really fun for one night to recreate that moment from the Rolling Thunder tour. It was a freakish time warp and also reminded me how much I love playing it.

“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”

We did it as this jaunty, loping shuffle. It was very emblematic of the sound of that tour, the way we played that song. Brimming with energy and really kind of a big party. There were long stretches for Mick Ronson to just strangle his guitar. I always found ways to contribute fun bits to songs where I wasn't taking the solos. I remember shoehorning a lot of little fills into “Hard Rain” on the pedal steel and had lots of fun with that.

With my age, what I knew of Dylan was big radio hits or things that might have been iconic one way or the other. I'd never heard songs like “Hattie Carroll” before. I was not a huge Dylan fan. I didn't know that much of his work. It was probably better that way, because I would have been too intimidated if I had really known what a great writer he was. I was much more intimidated about meeting and playing with Roger McGuinn, because I'm a Byrds and Beatles baby.

“Romance in Durango”