See Courtney Barnett, J. Mascis & More Let Loose On Bob Dylan's Old Electric Guitar

Aussie slacker-rock royalty Courtney Barnett has unlocked yet another life achievement hot on the heels of crushing it at the recent Newport Folk Festival, being given the opportunity, along with four other renowned guitarists on the line-up, to play around with Bob Dylan's infamous electric guitar that saw him get vociferously booed at the 1965 event.

For a bit of context, if you're unaware, it has long been held that people did not take kindly to Dylan's decision to perform at 1965's Newport Folk Festival with a wholly amplified band, especially after two previous years where he had risen to royal ranks among lovers of acoustic introspection and folksy authenticity. The resultant boos have generally been attributed to folk fans angered by the incursion of an electric guitar to their safe space, though in recent years that argument has been flecked with assertions that the outcry was actually directed at the sound quality and length of the set, rather than the mere presence of an electric — but either way, the performance lives on as a highly controversial moment in Dylan's canon.

Along with Dawes' Taylor Goldsmith, Dinosaur Jr's J. Mascis, Irish idol Hozier, and Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor, Barnett was invited by the festival to have a sit-down in an intimate, exposed-brick interview space and talk Dylan for a while, during which the Nobody Cares If You Don't Really Go To The Party scribe cheekily admits to flogging her music teacher's best-of Dylan record as a kid, and responds with Australian-as-hell gleeful incredulity at hearing how Dylan lost the guitar — "He left it on the fuckin' plane?!" — before being given the chance to actually play the guitar that angered so many mid-20th-century folk enthusiasts 50 years ago. Check it out below.

The long-awaited return of the mythical guitar was given more gravitas than just this video, of course — the festival held a 50^th Anniversary tribute to Dylan 'plugging in' at Newport, during which the likes of Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Willie Watson, and Jason Isbell — who got to steer the axe for the show — paid homage to the US music great.

Still, it's always heartwarming to see the kind of genuine enthusiasm and excitement that we see here from this group of musicians being given an ultra-rare chance to play a super-special instrument — and it's just a little bit envy-inducing to boot.

If you're in a retrospective mood, you can check out some footage of Dylan's infamous electric spot at the Newport Folk Festival below.