A celebration of the life of one of the greatest songwriters who has ever lived, Bob Dylan, will commence on Wednesday, May 22, at Fager’s Island on 60th Street in Ocean City. From 8 p.m. to midnight, six area musicians will perform their own renditions of the legendary artist’s works in honor of Dylan’s 72nd birthday, which will take place two days later. 

“The whole idea was for it to be about the most significant songwriter in my life,” said Nate Clendenen of local bands Eastern Electric, Saltwater Stringband and the Clendenen Brothers Bluegrass Band, as well as the organizer of this event. “This will be the only time – possibly ever – to catch all of these great performers together on the same stage on the same night.”

Most of the performing artists are local, including Clendenen, Darin Engh of Opposite Directions and Saltwater Stringband, Randy Lee Ashcraft and Bryan Russo, but two other artists will be joining from the surrounding area. Those are Jordan Sokel of Pressing Strings from Annapolis and Nancy Micciulla of Ginger from Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Families are welcome to the first part of the show, but I recommend they get there early to get the most out of the experience. Because the restaurant technically turns into a night club after dinner is served; anyone under 21 years old will have to leave at 10 p.m. Two hours of unique Dylan covers is still pretty awesome though!

This is the third time Clendenen has organized a Dylan tribute, and he plans for this to be a special event each year. All performing artists know Clendenen on either a professional or personal level, and jumped at the opportunity to join the celebration. 

“What I’ve always tried to do is get a group of different people together,” Clendenen said. “Randy [Lee Ashcraft] is a country guy, Jordan [Sokel] is a John Mayer-like musician, Bryan [Russo] plays the blues.”

Also, Clendenen says having different styles of music performing at the same show fits well for Bob Dylan’s music because of how much of an impact Dylan has made for all music.

“Through more than 50 years, his [Dylan’s] songwriting has found its way into every single genre of modern music. From Jimi Hendrix playing “All Along the Watchtower,” to Guns N’ Roses’ cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and all of the covers of his songs The Grateful Dead performed… people who aren’t Bob Dylan fans don’t even realize these were originally his songs.”

Clendenen says the show is going to be, “fun, open and loose,” with special appearances of other local musicians in attendance who will hop on stage at times and jam with the band for a bit. Not only will the performers dig into Dylan’s immense 35-album discography, but they will also play some related covers and even a couple of original works. 

Now that we’ve gone over what the event is all about, here’s a little information about each artist who will be performing:

Clendenen was born in Philadelphia, Pa., but grew up just 30 minutes away in Salisbury. A graduate of James M. Bennett High School, he has been playing music in Ocean City since he was 15. Now a member of rock, country and blues band Eastern Electric, bluegrass outfit Saltwater Stringband and the Clendenen Brothers Bluegrass Band (of which none of the members are actual brothers, just really close dudes), Clendenen sings, plays guitar and also jams on his mandolin. For the locals, please note Eastern Electric is the rebranded and new lineup of what was formerly called The Electric Co.; featuring two original members and, according to Clendenen, “a little more twang.” He cannot stress enough how big of an influence Bob Dylan has had on him and music as a whole. “If you claim to be a songwriter and do not claim to be influenced in some way by Bob Dylan, then you're not really a songwriter,” he said.

This is the first year the well known Ocean City musician will perform at the Bob Dylan tribute. From Salisbury, Ashcraft began playing in the area as a member of his father’s band back in 1985. Now the lead vocalist, songwriter and rhythm guitarist of his own band, Randy Lee Ashcraft and the Saltwater Cowboys, he plays a unique combination of genres that he likes to describe as beach country. “As a songwriter, this sounded like a fun time to be around my friends who are also musicians. We all work so much, it’s hard to see each other often, and it’s great to have this chance to do so.”

Having performed in the two previous Bob Dylan tribute events, Russo has been a big name in Ocean City for several years. His music is blues-oriented, but also has a folk-rock and indie sound. When performing with his band under his own name, Russo play a multitude of roles, including vocals, guitar, piano, violin and harmonica. “For me, he [Dylan] challenged what songs could be about. His band is still second to none; he may be the only mysterious figure left in pop culture and I think we should be trying to recapture a bit of that mystery again.”

From Rehoboth Beach, Del., Micciulla is the singer and guitarist for the cover band Ginger and also calls Philadelphia a home base while she records original songs that have a quirky folk and indie-pop sound. Most importantly, she helped Clendenen start the event in the first place. “I’ve played in a few Dylan tribute shows in Philly and I wanted to invite Nate [Clendenen] to one of them. But there wasn’t one that year, so we decided to do our own in Ocean City.” Micciulla admits she was never a big Dylan fan when she was younger, but after playing his music, that view changed. “I wasn’t that much of a fan until I was asked to do the tribute shows. Then I really started to appreciate all of his work. Just the sheer number of words the man can put into his songs is incredible.”

Engh has been a name in Ocean City for a long time as a member of acoustic rock duo Opposite Directions, which has been performing since 1986, and is also one of the four major members of another of Clendenen’s bands, Saltwater String Band. A singer, acoustic guitarist, bassist and harmonica player, Engh plays music influenced by several genres such as bluegrass, modern rock, blues and reggae.

As a student at Salisbury University a few years ago, Sokel was instrumental in the formation of reggae, jazz and rock group Pressing Strings. Now officially operating in Annapolis, the band was originally started as a duo, but now consists of four members, with Sokel as one of their main songwriters.

While all of these artists perform in Ocean City separately throughout the season, sometimes multiple times a week, Clendenen wants to emphasize how important and unique this night will be.

“I definitely want to stress how ‘one night only’ this is,” Clendenen said. “For supporters of local music, and lovers of music in general, this is truly a special occasion.”