Bob Dylan: Song by Song Format: other

This first volume explores Dylan’s studio albums between 1963 and 1969, starting with The Freewheelin’ to Nashville Skyline, plus other originals.

Bob Dylan, through his many guises, has changed the course of popular music. Moving to New York City in 1961, Dylan immersed himself in the folk milieu of Greenwich Village and was signed to Columbia Records within a year. As a folksinger, Dylan captured the political zeitgeist of the first half of the 1960s and wrote introspective tracks before going electric.

In fifteen months, Dylan released three revolutionary albums: Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. These albums saw Dylan expanding the parameters of popular song with a new poetic language and sound. On 29 July 1966, Dylan had a motorcycle accident, leaving him convalescing in Woodstock. There he broke more ground with the music he created with the Hawks (later known as the Band) in the basement of the Big Pink. This first volume explores Dylan’s studio albums between 1963 and 1969 in detail, starting with The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan to Nashville Skyline, in addition to other original compositions.

Jack Walters is a staff writer for PopMatters, where his writing has received recognition from artists, record labels, and academic presses―such as Yale University Press. His essay, 'The Philosophy of Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour', is published in The Dylan Review. His debut book, Bruce Springsteen: Song by Song, was published by Fonthill Media in 2023.