When Eaux Claires Festival returns to co-founder Justin Vernon's hometown of Eau Claire, WI, this July after an 8-year hiatus, it's going to look a little different.

Besides having relocated from Foster Farms to the city's Carson Park, the big news is that this year's event will be the first edition without Bon Iver. Instead, Vernon is taking the opportunity to reinvent himself, for one night only, as "Bon Dylan," which is described in the press release as "Bob Dylan circa 1994, doing songs from ever era."

Joining Vernon on stage for the show will be a full band including JT Bates, JP Brooks, Camaja Byrd, Sean Carey, Phil Cook, Ben Lester, Michael Lewis, Katira Lutterman, John Pieter, Courtland Pickens, and Jeremy Ylvisaker. 

You can hear a clip of Vernon's take on Bob Dylan's 1997 track "Not Dark Yet" in a new announcement video below:

As the voiceover goes:

“Oh, it was about a year ago. Bob Dylan came through town. I went with my dad and about 16 of my friends. I’ve lived here for 44 years. And it’s been too long to remember since the town felt that together. So we thought we’d better get the festival back going.

And then the question of whether Bon Iver should play or not. It was on the table. Here’s what I’ll say. I haven’t felt much like being what I’ve been Or been seen to have been. Or what I wanted to have been. Or what I’ve become. So I thought it’d be cool to try to be Bob Dylan for a night. I’m trying to turn Bon into Bob.”

Bon Dylan is, of course, not Vernon's first public show of admiration for Bob Dylan. Has has covered several of the veteran singer/songwriter's songs in the past, including "With God on our Side" and "All Along the Watchtower," and his ongoing Volumes archival series was directly inspired by Dylan's Bootleg Series. In 2023, Vernon hosted a Radio Milwaukee 'Song Chest' episode of all Dylan songs ("basically the playlist I’d play for somebody to prove that Bob Dylan’s the greatest, whatever that means”), and some of those will no doubt turn up at Eaux Claires.

As previously reported, other artists playing this year's event include Aimee Mann, Kevin Morby, Dijon, Lil Yachts, and Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore.

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