Bob Dylan’s Ultimate Test To Approve A Collaboration, Mark Howard Recalls

Working with Bob Dylan might sound dreamy, but it wasn’t easy for Mark Howard, at least in the beginning. The producer recently chatted with Rock History Music hosted by John Beaudin and recalled how Dylan gave him and fellow producer Daniel Lanois the ultimate test, pushing them to their limits and how eventually, he managed the earn the rocker’s trust.

So, it seems like Dylan might be pretty picky when choosing the people he’ll collab with. The situation was no different when Howard and Lanois teamed up with him to produce the commercial success ‘Oh, Mercy’ back in the late ’80s. However, at the time, the producers weren’t quite aware of the challenge they’d have to put up with.

Howard recalled how the rocker had a temper that could quickly go into action as Dylan wasn’t one to hold back. So, when recording during one faithful studio session, the singer made things so challenging that Lanois smashed his metal dobro guitar into the monitors in front of the rocker, making Dylan get up frustrated. Mark then decided that it would be a bright idea to leave, not to witness the chaos.

Then, on another occasion, whenever Howard would try to place a mic in front of Dylan, the rocker would turn in the opposite direction and refuse to meet the mic. Soon after that, he’d get up and go to the piano room, and Mark would have to carry the entire drum set after him into that room, only for Dylan to get up and return to the studio once again.

For the producer, it was like a cat-and-mouse game. However, after some time spent together, the pair bonded over their shared interest in motorcycles, which was perhaps enough for Dylan to decide that Howard was worthy enough to work with him. So, following the day Lanois had smashed his guitar, the rocker started calling Mark Howard directly by his name.

Howard recalled how Dylan gave him the ultimate test:

“Then the next day [after Lanois smashed his guitar], it was like nothing happened. Bob comes in; he’s a little more kind of like respective because, for the first two weeks of that record, he never said my name. [He] didn’t even [have] knowledge I was in the room, and so he was playing, his kind of cards, you know, to see, what’s gonna happen kind of thing.

So… but then we hit it off with motorcycles, and so, ever since then, it’s like that was the first time he said, ‘Hey, Mark. Can you get me one of those?’ It was like, ‘Okay, you know who I am now.’ [I was] not just like the guy floating around… He was being a little cheeky in the beginning, you know? I put the microphone in front of him, and then you turn over here [the opposite direction].

I put the microphone over here, and he could go over here [the opposite direction], and then he’d get up, and then you go into the piano room. He’d be playing on the piano, and I’d move the whole drum set into that room, and then he’d get up off the piano, come back into the kitchen where the studio was, and I bring the whole drum set back, and it’s like chasing him around.”

Mark also recalled the very moment Bob Dylan saw his motorcycle, a Harley Davidson, parked outside the studio and asked the producer to get him one of those. So, after Howard granted Dylan’s wish, the two had a bonding ride alongside the Mississippi river. Sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?

The producer recalled bonding with the singer:

“Bob saw that I had one motorcycle outside of the studio, and he came up to me, goes, ‘Mark, can you get me one of those?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ So, I got him this beautiful 1966 Harley Davidson Shovelhead, [the] first year of the shovelhead, a classic bike, Electra Glide, electric blue color, really incredible.

So, he came early into the studio once I brought it back; I had to go to Florida to pick it up on the weekend; [when] we weren’t working, and so, I brought it back, and he takes it out, and I go with him with my bike, and I said, ‘Okay, follow me, and I’ll show you how to get to the levee.’ And so, we just drive along the top of the levee with the Mississippi on one side….”

Thus, even though the producers had a challenging time when Bob Dylan tested them to see if they would be worthy of working it, Howard managed to earn the pickrocker’s’s trust through their shared love of motorcycles. Well, it might be wise to advise that getting him a bike might be a good choice if you happen to work with Dylan one day.