THE DYLAN WATCH: What becomes a songwriting...

THE DYLAN WATCH: What becomes a songwriting legend the most? An album filled largely with cover songs? That’s the news from Columbia Records, who is releasing the oddball collection--titled “Down in the Groove”--early next month. Highlights include Dylan’s version of Wilbur Harrison’s “Let’s Stick Together,” a Dylan collaboration with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter called “The Ugliest Girl in the World,” John Hiatt’s “The Usual,” plus remakes of “Sally Sue Brown,” “Death Is Not the End” and (are you sitting down?) “Shenandoah.” To say that Dylan wasn’t absolutely sure how to present this album would be an understatement--early review copies of the album had two more covers (including a Dylan version of the Yardbirds’ “Got Love If You Want It”) which were pulled at the last minute. And at press time we hear Dylan is planning even more changes before the album reaches its final form. . . . While we’re on the subject--belated congrats to Michael McDonald and Amy Holland, who recently had a baby boy, named Dylan Michael. . . . OK, just one more semi-Dylan note. Columbia Records is planning a tribute album to folk music great (and political activist) Woody Guthrie. Nothing’s firm yet, but organizers have reportedly asked several Guthrie acolytes to be part of the project, including Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, U-2 and Willie Nelson.