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Minnesota native Sara Schwabe kidded--maybe not--that “Dylan is pretty much a god to Minnesotans. We are all required to learn three songs: the theme from “A Prairie Home Companion,� Prince’s “Purple Rain,� and “Blowin’ in the Wind.� Besides getting to share the stage with some of their favorite local musicians, Schwabe said “the fact that it benefits our fabulous library system just adds to the appeal!�

It isn’t hard figure out how a kid who wanted to master the harmonica might have been influenced along the way by Dylan. Said Michael Crawley, “Dylan is not known for his great harp playing, he had some really cool licks on those first bunch of records that jump-started my playing. He also had a grasp on the blues. I always liked the cover art on the "Bringing it all Back Home" album, where right in front of the lady in red smoking a cig lays a pile of LP's and Robert Johnson's "King of the Delta Blues" is among them. I read somewhere that he at one point listened to a ton of blues: Blind Blake, the Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell—lots of visually impaired fellows?—Leadbelly, Libby Cotton . . . the list is long. He also turned me on to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and that whole folk thing as well. You know how that goes; you always want to know who influenced your influences. I think he is the most covered artist on the planet. Quite a body of work. It really is astonishing—the number of people that have covered his music. And there's the poetry and literary influences as well.�

Crawley said any opportunity to jam with his fellow local troubadours is fun. But, specifically, an event like “Forever Young� provides a chance to delve deeply into what he termed “Dylanology.�

Besides guitar legend “Detroit� Dave Meer and Crawley, the MacDaddies are veteran bassist Rick Wolfe, keyboard hero Ben Maney and Kevin Redding on drums.

“As far as the tunes we chose this year,� Crawley said, “ well, you're going to have to wait till the Blue Plate rolls around. I picked a couple and Detroit Dave's singing one. We are using different arrangements other than Dylan's, but I think you'll dig 'em.�

Garage Deluxe turned out to be the only band interviewed that would cough up some actual song titles they’re going to spring on the audience. Garage Deluxe is Stevie Jones, lead vocals and keys; John Montgomery, lead guitar; Chad Farmer, bass and vocals; and Andrew Bryant, drums and vocals. Although a newcomer to “Forever Young,� the Southern rock-influenced veterans of local stages as well as last year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival is a newcomer to “Forever Young.�

“Whether your thing is avant-garde jazz or hip-hop or even punk rock, you cannot deny the amount of respect that this man deserves due to his impact on the world of music,� Bryant said. “When learning these songs, we found that, beyond the chord progressions and lyrics, mastering Dylan's material requires a certain finesse to actually master the feel of the songs. As a drummer, I found that sometimes his songs lag behind the beat or even push the pocket at times to get reach a certain goal in the song itself. This will be the first time that we have covered Dylan and we are having a ball, simplifying our sound to meet the needs to this material.�

“The Basement Tapes� is a treasure chest of music that came out of a time when Dylan was recuperating from a motorcycle accident and hanging out with The Band in upstate New York. That double album of material contains some of Bryant’s favorite Dylan material. “Off of this we chose, "Odds and Ends" and "Apple Suckling Tree" because they fit our instrumentation and sound most. John Montgomery is a big fan of the “New Morning� album, therefore we chose and made the edges a bit more raw on the blues number, "One More Weekend.� Collectively, we all wanted to end our set with "I Shall Be Released" because it is such a beautiful and powerful song that Dylan wrote specifically for Richard Manuel to sing.�

“We are glad to be a part of this, because it is a tribute to Dylan, but also due to the fact that the proceeds go to such a great cause,� Bryant said.

Horton, who says he tries to vary the lineup every year, foresees bringing more genres into next year’s “Forever Young� show. “Next year we'd like to include reggae, gospel, and bluegrass in the mix.

The youngest lead performer at the show will be Horton’s son, Will, of the Black Cadillacs. The budding songwriter said the first song he ever learned was “I Shall Be Free No. 10.�

Will, who played last year’s “Forever Young� as an acoustic duo with his fellow Cadillac and friend, Cooper Hardison, said he wanted to do it again “because of how much Dylan's music had meant to me all of my life, due to my dad introducing me to him at such a young age, which is the second reason I'm doing it. Because it's also his birthday!�

Why Dylan? In Knoxville? As if helping the local library weren’t enough reason to celebrate the life and work of the mercurial musical poet, even if his East Tennessee performances in a 50-year career are few and far between. The man single-handedly changed the value system for the lyrical content of modern songwriting. He also completely democratized the art of singing. In the post-Bob era, anyone with a braying voice, a passing acquaintance with pitch and the chutzpah to get behind a microphone might feel deserving of rock stardom. But even when that account is settled, no one will be able to deny the protean singer-songwriter’s massive impact on the art itself and our expectations for artists.