A Bob Dylan tribute concert is coming to Visible Voice Books in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood on Oct. 23, featuring eleven musicians performing renditions of the songwriter's catalog from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and are available for pre-order or at the door.
The bookstore, owned by Dave Ferrante, is now far more than a place to browse novels. According to Cleveland.com, Visible Voice Books combines a bookstore, café and live-music venue inside its Ohio City space. Brent Kirby will serve as host and bandleader for the evening, welcoming special guests to perform their own interpretations of two Dylan classics each, per the same report.
From Tremont Storefront to a 6,000-Square-Foot Stage
The Ohio City location represents a dramatic leap for a bookstore that spent nearly two decades in Tremont. Visible Voice Books reopened in November 2025 inside a 6,000-square-foot space at 4601 Lorain Avenue, up from a roughly 1,500-square-foot footprint, quadrupling its size and tripling its book inventory, according to The Land. Ferrante first opened the shop in 2007 on Kenilworth Avenue in Tremont, closed it for three years, then reopened on Professor Avenue in 2017 before making the Ohio City move last year, NEOtrans reports.
What makes the new location unusual is what renovators found behind its walls. The space occupies the historic 1890s Lorain Palace Theatre building, where Ferrante and his architects discovered a hidden performance stage behind drywall while planning the space. The stage has been restored and seats 150 people, alongside murals restored by the Cleveland Mural Company, Cleveland Magazine reports in its account of the bookstore's new live-music venue.
A Lineup Built on Years of Dylan Tributes
Kirby's house band for the night includes himself on vocals and guitars, Andy Leach on electric and steel guitars, Alfredo Guerrieri on bass, Jeremy McCabe on drums, Rachel Brown on piano, and Ed Caner on fiddle, per Cleveland.com. Special guests joining them include Laurie Caner on vocals and banjo, Austin Walkin' Cane on vocals and guitar, Paul Kovac on vocals and banjo, Afi Scruggs on vocals and piano, and Jenna Fournier on vocals and guitar.
This isn't the ensemble's first run through Dylan's songbook. Kirby organized a Bob Dylan 85th birthday tribute concert in May at Lakeside Chautauqua's Hoover Auditorium featuring many of the same musicians, including Austin Walkin' Cane, Ed Caner, Laurie Caner and Afi Scruggs, according to a Facebook post from Kirby. Kirby is also the creator and host of Cleveland's bi-weekly 10x3 Songwriter/Band Showcase at the BOP STOP, a format that pairs ten regional musicians with three-song sets, according to The Music Settlement.
The guest lineup includes Austin Walkin' Cane, Ed Caner and Laurie Caner.
Harmony Hi-Fi, the vinyl listening lounge Harmony Hi-Fi, had targeted a late-April opening on Fulton Road.
