Bob Dylan reportedly on track for France’s Legion of Honor
Bob Dylan is bringing it all back home.
A year after the legendary singer-songwriter was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he’s set to be decorated with France’s prestigious Legion of Honor, according to Reuters, which said that a 17-member council had approved Dylan’s nomination.
In a letter to the French newspaper Le Monde, the council’s grand chancellor, Jean-Louis Georgelin, described Dylan as an “exceptional artist†and a “tremendous singer and great poet†and confirmed rumors that he’d rejected an earlier nomination for Dylan based on what he called a “controversy.â€
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Reports published earlier this year said Georgelin had disqualified Dylan based in part on the singer’s opposition to the war in Vietnam, where France was once a colonial power.
Other musicians recently awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest distinction, include Paul McCartney, Liza Minnelli and the French balladeer Charles Aznavour.
Dylan’s latest studio album, “Tempest,†came out in 2012. On June 26 in West Palm Beach, Fla., he’ll kick off the so-called Americanarama tour with two younger roots-music acts, Wilco and My Morning Jacket; it’s scheduled to stop at Irvine’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Aug. 3.
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Twitter: @mikaelwood
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