Bob’s House
“I was on a Highland tour with my golf buddy, Roberto Borgatti who told me to call a number in Grantown-on-Spey to arrange a visit to Bob Dylan’s house.”
I've learned through the years to suspend any sense of disbelief with Roberto and go with the flow. Later that day, we were sitting sipping coffee with the Zimmermans.
The 2nd at Abernethy Golf Club plays across the access road to Aultmore House.
The Aultmore Estate lies just outside the village of Nethy Bridge between the towns of Aviemore and Grantown on Spey.
The 2nd hole of Abernethy Golf Club plays across the access road to the Aultmore estate, one of the more unusual par 3s in Scotland, where a car can suddenly appear from the right and easily be ‘taken out’ by a thinned 9-iron.
Another 300 yards through a stand of thick woods and well out of danger of any stray golf shots stands a most impressive mansion. We approached the circular driveway and sure enough, David Zimmerman was at the front door waiting to greet us!
After meeting the rest of the family and enjoying coffee and cake, David & his wife, Gayle, strolled us through the gardens. David and I discussed the music business, which remains his main interest.
‘They built this house to take in that view,” David was telling me as we leaned on the wall at the end of the garden looking south over Spey Valley to the Cairngorms.
David, Bob’s younger brother, was instrumental in re-recording Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks. After hearing the original version, David suggested that it was too monotonous, leading Dylan to re-record at least half the album in Minneapolis with a whole new set of musicians and his brother serving as an uncredited producer.
David started his career as a high school teacher and later migrated into managing artists. Music production was not his intention but his experience with the re-recording of Blood on the Tracks gave him the impetus.
The album initially received mixed reviews but has since been acclaimed as one of Dylan's best, with various publications listing it as one of the greatest albums of all time. It seemed to me, Dylan brought his brother closer to business and …
The songs that constitute Blood on the Tracks have been described by many Dylan critics as stemming from his personal turmoil at the time, particularly his estrangement from his then-wife Sara Dylan.[28]
I was bemused to be strolling around the boxed garden with Bob Dylan’s younger brother and his wife, both smoking cigarettes profusely and tossing their butts wherever they pleased. They employed two full-time gardeners to look after their butts.
Aultmore House has since been sold to a Dundee whisky company.
The Zimmermans bought the Aultmore Estate back in 2007, the famous singer smitten with Scotland, particularly the Highlands. His song, "Highlands", released on his 30th studio album ‘Time Out of Mind’, is his second-longest studio recording at sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds.
“What do you think about this place for golfers?” David was asking me, pointing back at the house. “How many bedrooms does it have?” I enquired. “There are 18 upstairs and another floor above that,” he replied. Plans went into motion.
I stayed at Aultmore a few times after that and spoke with David and his estate managers, Michael & Sara, to bring golfers to stay at the house and partake of the wonderful courses that were in easy driving distance.
The 9th on the original Castle Stuart course.
Chas, Luke, Roberto and me….
READ THE FULL STORY IN DAVID’S NEW BOOK, ‘GOLF JOURNEYS IN SCOTLAND’. Coming soon!
