Both were members of he hotbed Greenwich Village folk scene at the time. Belafonte would have been well aware that Dylan was a hot new talent as a singer-songwriter, and I suspect that hiring him to play harmonica (apparently Dylan's first recording gig) had more to do with the overall developing sensation of Dylan than with his chops on the tin sandwich. =========== Winslow
@ Winslow Yerxa - That makes sense. I didn't know that Belafonte was a part of the Greenwich Village scene. I wonder if it's possible that the people who arranged this session had never actually heard a real version of Midnight Special (like that of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee - not sure when that was recorded), and so didn't realize that there was anything wrong with Dylan's accompaniment. But as you say, perhaps they knew and just wanted to get Dylan in the studio. Anyway, it's a curious bit of of musical history.
