Howard Fishman: The Basement Tapes Project

The music of Bob Dylan and the American Songbook

“Haunting and affecting”
— The New Yorker

“Scintillating... gritty... brilliant”
— The Washington Post

"Transcends time and idiom"
— The New York Times

Since his New York City debut at the Algonquin Oak Room in 1999, critically-acclaimed singer, guitarist, composer and bandleader Howard Fishman's exuberant, spontaneous, and unvarnished music has made him a favorite of audiences and critics alike.

Using critic Greil Marcus’ book The Old, Weird America as a touchstone, Fishman's The Basement Tapes Project explores the mysterious underground recordings made by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1967.

"Fishman, much like Dylan himself, is loath to tarry very long in any one particular neck of the musical woods," writes David Sprague for Variety, "Working backward to get to the root of Dylan’s source material, rather than attempting to drag the rustic songs into the 21st century... Fishman himself proved equally adept at capturing the sky-darkening melancholia of “Basement’s” more foreboding material — the songs that could cut through a winter coat like a jagged Great Plains wind. “Crash on the Levee” was particularly impressive at this [Lincoln Center] perf, its dolefully elegant gait allowing a seething passion to trickle through the tune’s armor."

Developed for The Public Theater, The Basement Tapes Project debuted in a three-night run at Joe's Pub in May 2006. In February 2007, it was performed as a feature presentation at Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series and has since toured to venues around the country.

Video

Howard Fishman: Musical Storyteller

The Basement Tapes Project:
"Crash on the Levee" (aka "Down in the Flood")

Audio