MMW: Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941. He was discovered in the early 60’s in Greenwich Village, and since the release of his first album in 1962 he’s been incredibly prolific and active, releasing 35 studio albums and a whole lot of live and bootleg albums. Early songs like “The Times They Are a-Changin” became anti-war and civil rights anthems, earning him the moniker “Voice of a Generation”. He’s always been understated about his talent as a songwriter and infamously denies that his songs are trying to speak for anyone or anything.
Everyone who came after him was influenced by his singing, songwriting, or both, in some way (my opinion, of course, but one shared by many others… watch the clip to see how he influenced artists like the Beatles). Bob has never held back from making the kind of music he wants, no matter who that disappoints or outrages. I’ve been a mega-fan for nearly 10 years, and the breadth of his styles and depth of his catalog have kept me busy. He has successfully explored genres such as folk, blues, jazz, country, gospel, rockabilly, rock and roll, and continues to surprise.
Since he began making music, Bob has released lots of albums worthy of your time. Here are some of my favorites– The Times They Are a-Changin, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Love and Theft, Tell Tale Signs (Bootleg Vol. 8).
That’s a lot of favorite albums… but I can’t edit my obsession with Bob Dylan’s music. If you want to talk about Bob Dylan more, I would love if you contacted me at tmoleswo@wrct.org so we can geek out together.
-Tee
A snipit of what Bob has done: