David Mansfield (born September 13, 1956) is an American musician and composer. Bob Dylan asked Mansfield to tour with him on his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour; he remained in Dylan’s band through their 1978 world tour. After the Revue ended in 1976, Mansfield and two other members of Dylan’s band, T-Bone Burnett and Steven Soles, formed The Alpha Band. In 1986, Mansfield was an initial member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range, including playing the title instrument on the hit “Mandolin Rain”. Since The Alpha Band broke up, Mansfield has continued to work as a musician in sessions for Dylan, Burnett, Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith, Roger McGuinn, Sam Phillips, Mark Heard, The Roches, Edie Brickell, Spinal Tap, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Victoria Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, Willie Nile, Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, and others. (More from Wikipedia)
Bob Dylan himself reports that someone threw a silver cross on the stage during a concert in San Diego in November 1978, leading directly to his conversion to Christ. It was much more dramatic than I had ever imagined. Again from Wikipedia: “‘[Dylan’s] conversion wasn’t one of those things that happens when an alcoholic goes to Alcoholics Anonymous,’ David Mansfield, one of Dylan’s band members and fellow born-again Christian, would later say. ‘The simplest explanation is that he had a very profound experience which answered certain lifelong issues for him.’ . . .
“Dylan wasn’t alone in his religious awakening. Band members Steven Soles and David Mansfield had already joined the Vineyard [Christian] Fellowship, a Christian organization introduced to them by T-Bone Burnett. Helena Springs, one of the singers in the band, was brought up Christian and still practiced her faith. Dylan was also romantically linked with Mary Alice Artes; raised as a Christian, she had strayed from her faith only to return to it after joining the Vineyard Fellowship (without the influence of Burnett, Soles, or Mansfield).”
(August 2014)
