Julian Lage, jazz guitar's quiet virtuoso, has joined Bob Dylan's touring band

Bob Dylan does not explain his decisions, and this one is no exception. Starting in mid-June 2026, jazz guitarist Julian Lage began appearing in Dylan's live band, in the chair long held by guitarist Doug Lancio, who joined for the 2021 Rough and Rowdy Ways tour (Guitar World). No press release, no social post from either camp, nothing. Per Guitar World, a Dylan spokesperson could not even confirm to the Los Angeles Times, which reviewed the band's Santa Barbara Bowl show, whether Lage is a temporary fill-in or a longer-term addition.

That review is a useful data point on its own. The Los Angeles Times singled out Lage's playing on "Tryin' to Get to Heaven" as "tender and spooky," noting the chords going "in some direction I could never have predicted," reporting Guitar World relayed from the paper's own coverage. Lage himself gave no hint of the gig coming: Guitar World notes he did not mention it in a Guitar World interview conducted just weeks before he turned up on stage with Dylan.

Outside jazz circles, Lage is not a household name, which is exactly the point of this story. He is a former child prodigy turned Blue Note Records artist, a player whose reputation is built almost entirely on other musicians' respect: collaborations with Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Yoko Ono, and a catalog of records built around trio and quartet interplay rather than solo pyrotechnics. As Guitar World puts it, he is "very likely your favorite guitarist's favorite guitarist." Our full CYS profile on Lage covers his documented guitars and strings in more depth, including a genuine discrepancy between what he says he plays and what his own signature Collings model ships with stock.

That makes him an unusual, and unusually well-qualified, pick for a Dylan gig. Setlists since Lage joined have leaned on Rough and Rowdy Ways cuts alongside classics like "All Along the Watchtower," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," and "Watching the River Flow," plus a handful of covers from Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Bobby "Blue" Bland, per fan-tracked setlist accounts Guitar World cites. How long the arrangement lasts is still open. Per Guitar World's follow-up report, Lage's representatives told Rolling Stone he will keep playing Dylan dates this year when his own touring schedule permits.

Whatever changes about Lage's schedule, his rig is some of the best-documented in guitar journalism, because he plays almost none of it. His 2023 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown opens on exactly that point: "you'd be hard-pressed to find an electric guitarist who uses less gear" (Premier Guitar). Three guitars cover essentially everything he does on stage.

Here is the part a strings desk actually cares about. Both of Lage's main electrics are strung with D'Addario XL Chromes, a flatwound set, not the roundwound strings that ship on most electric guitars and dominate rock and metal. His Nachocaster takes ECG24 Chromes (.011-.050) with an unwound .020 plain G string in place of a wound one; his Collings signature takes a slightly lighter .011-.049 flatwound set (Premier Guitar).

Flatwounds use a smooth, flat ribbon of metal wrapped around the core wire instead of the round wire used on most electric sets. The tradeoff is real: less brightness, less finger noise sliding along the string, and a rounder, more vintage attack that has been the jazz and rockabilly standard for decades. It is a deliberate choice, not a beginner default, and it is a direct match for Lage's stated goal of an "honest," unfiltered tone. Our full guide to flatwound electric guitar strings breaks down when that tradeoff is worth making.

We do not yet have a dedicated CYS review page for D'Addario's Chromes flatwound line. If your own playing runs more toward archtop jazz boxes than a Telecaster, our D'Addario EJ22 Jazz Medium review covers D'Addario's dedicated electric jazz set with a wound third, a roundwound alternative for a similarly dense, tight jazz tone, and our coverage of the newly reissued Gibson ES-330 hollowbodies is a good next stop if the tone Lage is chasing has you thinking about a hollowbody of your own.