He told Vintage Rock magazine: "Well, I'm just nothing like Bob Dylan, so I guess what I was trying to say was, like, I'm coming from the place that I'm a singer first. I'm a singer. Right? And I write songs.
What he does and what I do, you know, it's nowhere near."
He continued: "I am a singer who writes songs, so I was comparing myself more to the singer who writes songs, rather than a songwriter who sings."
Van's latest project is the covers album 'Accentuate the Positive', and he insists he is only motivated to do things that inspire him, not what other people want him to do.
He said: "I'm not interested in what other people want me to do or what they expect. I think if you're successful, then you should be able to do what you want. So I enjoy doing this music. I have always enjoyed it... I just do what I like with music that inspires me and has always inspired me. So there's no particular reason. It's just what I want to do.
Dylan has spent the past few weeks spotlighting local artists and city-specific songs while cross-crossing America on his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. It began October 1 in Kansas City when he opened up with “Kansas City,” continued in St. Louis where he covered two Chuck Berry songs, and carried on in Chicago where he broke out Chicago blues tunes by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.
Perhaps the biggest curveball came October 16 in Indianapolis, Indiana when he played John Mellencamp‘s “Longest Days.” It’s a relatively obscure song from Mellencamp’s 2008 LP Life, Death, Love, and Freedom. Dylan quoted it in his 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year acceptance speech. “It’s one of the better songs of the last few years, actually,” Dylan said. “I ain’t lying.”
