New Bob Dylan/T Bone Burnett ‘Ionic Original’ Format Record Emerges

Los Angeles, CA (January 8, 2025)—Oscar and Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett made headlines in 2022 when he introduced a new music format—Ionic Original—said to offer the greatest fidelity and durability ever available on an analog record. Now nearly three years later, a new Ionic Original disc—only the second ever produced—has emerged and is headed to auction.

The new disc—a one-off studio recording of Bob Dylan performing “The Time They Are A-Changin’”—will hit the auction block on January 18, 2025 as part of a larger auction, Celebrating Bob Dylan: The Aronowitz Archive, T Bone Burnett, & More to be held in Nashville by Julien’s Auctions. The signed, one-of-a-kind disc caries an estimate of $400,000-$600,000.

Burnett spoke extensively with Mix in May, 2022 about the Ionic Original format—specially modified acetate discs created by his startup, NeoFidelity. While traditional acetate discs quickly degrade over time, Ionic Original discs are acetates treated with a durable, imperceptible coating developed by Georgia Tech. The coating’s composition is similar to quartz and emerald, aiding the discs’ durability and longevity.

“Using…ionic deposition, we were able to create acetates which maintain their pristine sound over thousands of plays,” Burnett told Mix. “The coating is something like 90 atoms thick and greatly reduces friction; we’ve got discs that we’ve played 2,000 times that are dead quiet.”

The new 3:18 recording of “The Time They Are A-Changin’” was produced by Burnett across sessions in Los Angeles and Nashville, with a band comprised of Greg Leisz on Mandolin, Stuart Duncan on Violin, Dennis Crouch on bass, Don Was on bass, Tim Pierce on acoustic guitar, Jeff Taylor on accordion and Burnett on electric guitar. Recorded by Michael Piersante and Rachael Moore, and mixed by Michael Piersante, the final mix was mastered by Gavin Lurssen, and the acetate was later cut by Jeff Powell of Take Out Vinyl in Memphis, TN.

While the auction winner will own the physical disc itself, the auction listing painstakingly notes that “No copyright, intellectual property, or other publicity rights in this composition will pass to the winning bidder, their successors or assigns as part of this sale. You are expressly prohibited from copying or distributing this lot or the recording embodied within the lot, whether or not you are paid for any such copies or distribution.”

That sort of warning didn’t deter whoever owns the first Ionic Original disc. In July, 2022, that first disc was unveiled—a recording of Dylan performing “Blowin’ In The Wind,” taken from the same sessions—and was soon auctioned at Christie’s in London for $1,769,508.

The new disc is currently on display at Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum through January 17, 2025.