Dylan.FM

In this special episode we're sharing the premiere episode of a new podcast called 'Infinity Goes Up On Trial' hosted by Erin Callahan. It's monthly show with discussions about the ideas and emotions in Dylan's work, with artists, activists, educators, and more.

**There is a video version of this episode available at TheFM.Club.**

To make sure you don't miss future episodes of Infinity Goes Up On Trial, go subscribe in your f...

Continuing our discussion with Michael Gray on his book Song & Dance Man Vol.2, we discuss Chapter 4 which focuses on Groom Still Waiting At The Altar and also covers Angelina and Caribbean Wind.

Michael explains the biblical references from the title of Groom, we discuss the lyrical changes as sung from those in the lyric books, the various and adventurous rhymes, and Dylan's impassioned delivery. Michael reads several pass...

Bob Dylan struggled in many ways in the mid 80's, no matter how you look at it. We talk about the perception and reality of that struggle, along with his triumphs, with Professor Erin Callahan.

Erin often hosts The Dylantantes podcast, is co-author/co-editor of The Politics and Power of Bob Dylan’s Live Performances - a recent book looking at Dylan through the lens of his live setlists, and has another book coming - this one abo...

We continue our series with Michael Gray on Song & Dance Man, Vol. 2 with a discussion of two chapters on great songs from Bob's Born-Again Period. The first is Yonder Comes Sin, and outtake captured at a live show soundcheck, and unreleased until the Trouble No More Bootleg Series. The Second is the beloved Every Grain of Sand.

This is an extended version of this episode exclusively for FM+ Subscribers and FM Club Premium...

Dylan & The Dead is much more than an album, it's a relationship. In this episode we talk to Dylan and Dead expert Harold Lepidus about all aspects of that history, the shows, the rehearsals, the inspiration, and the impact.

This a part of our 'Five Worst Years' series looking at all sides of 1984-1988. Dylan first started spending time with The Dead in '87, rehearsing and then playing live shows - some of which resulted in ...

Following 18 months after Infidels, nothing about the making of this record - the recording process, the sound, the songs, or even the cover art - suggested that Dylan was on solid footing. The times were a-changin' again.

Yet the music did impress some: Rolling Stone asked: "Is Dylan “back”? Again? One is tempted to trumpet some such tidings. ...Empire Burlesque is nothing as straightforward as a simple return to rock &am...

Bob Dylan has had an incredible career for over sixty years. But Dylan hit a bit of a rough patch in the 1980's - especially the mid 80s. Or did he?

This is the question we're going to look at as we revisit the years 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 - and everything that took place during those years - through this and a whole bunch of episodes ahead on Dylan.FM.

In this introductory episode we set the stage, discussing how t...

Dylan fans have always focused on setlists, but this may be the first book to use them as a theme, around which a series of writers look at how the list of songs Bob chooses to sing in any given night or tour has evolved, the different roles certain songs have played over the years, and the larger story or message contained within a sequence of songs (intentionally or not).

Another by-product of the pandemic, The Power and Polit...

In this episode we talk with author Michael Gray about Chapter One of Volume 2 of Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan - Yonder Comes Sin, which was just released.

Much of the discussion is about Street-Legal, and how that album revealed Dylan's evolving search for salvation - in a way that perhaps foreshadowed the gospel years much more clearly than anyone caught at the time.

LINKS:

• Song & Dance Man: The A...

Mixing Up The Medicine is a new book that takes us all inside The Bob Dylan Archives, and shares a wealth of photos, memorabilia, manuscripts, and new original writing. We talk with authors Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel to learn how they created it.

** The Extended Version of this Episode is 30 Minutes long and available only to FM+ Subscribers **

You can order Mixing Up The Medicine at Amazon.

Mark Davidson has a PhD i...

Nobody Else Can Be Influenced By The Pre-War Blues like Bob Dylan - or so says author Michael Gray in Chapter 8 in Song & Dance Man Vol.1 (The 50th Anniversary Edition). In 112 pages in that book he explains Dylan's relationship with the blues, which we discuss in this episode. Our Guest Reader for this episode is Scott Bunn of ReclinerNotes.com

** The Full Extended Version of this Episode is 45 Minutes long and available on...

Only one song from Dylan's 1960s output earned a dedicated chapter in Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan (Vol.1), and it's a song that Dylan never even released until over 20 years later. In this episode we talk to Michael Gray about "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" (later released on Biograph in 1985 and later on Side Tracks).

The song is called out for special attention, because as Michael explains, it is unlike any other in...

Following our two episodes on complexity in Dylan's lyrics, our discussion turns to the trend towards simplicity in the late 60's and early 70's work. This covers Chapter 5 in Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan (Vol.1) and includes comments on John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, New Morning, Self Portrait, Planet Waves and Blood On The Tracks.

We'll listen to passages from the book and then Michael comments, adds ...

In this fourth episode in our Series on the new book release Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan (Vol.1) we talk to author Michael Gray about Chapter Four: Dylan's Use of Language: Toward Complexity. We discuss the changes on songs seen over the course of Dylan's first seven albums - from Bob Dylan through Blonde on Blonde.

The changes Bob Dylan went through from 1962 through 1966 are myriad, as everyone who has listened ...

In this third episode in our Series on the new book release Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan (Vol.1) we talk to author Michael Gray about Chapter Three: Dylan and Rock Music. We discuss the influence the early Rock & Roll performers had on Dylan. Things he heard over those distant AM Radio signals in his youth: Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley - among others.

As in the prior episodes, we'll ...

In this second episode in our Series on the new Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan (Vol.1) we talk to author Michael Gray about Chapter Two: Dylan and The Literary Tradition. We talk about the influence both classical english writers as well as both early and modern American writers had on Dylan, and what he came to do with that influence.

** There is an Extended Version of this episode available to FM+ Members. Details...

Well over 100 musicians have played in Dylan's band over the past 60 years, and Ray Padgett spoke to nearly 50 of them for his new book 'Pledging My Time - Conversations With Bob Dylan Band Members'. In this episode we talk with Ray about the book and all these interesting conversations.

Ray is responsible for the "Flagging Down The Double E's" newsletter (via Substack) which focuses usually on Live Dylan Concerts but drove the...

The first serious book to analyze and critique the work of Bob Dylan was Michael Gray's Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan - and it's back in print after over a decade, in a new 50th Anniversary Series. To celebrate we're doing our own series of interviews with Gray, walking through the book to create a kind of commentary track - reviewing and expanding on his thoughts. This episode is the first in that series.

The revi...

It was over seven years ago that we learned of 'Bob Dylan's Secret Archives' from The New York Times, and just over a year since the Bob Dylan Center opened those archives up to visitors in Tulsa OK. On the anniversary, we sat down in Tulsa with Center Director Steven Jenkins to talk about the Center, the first year and the future.

Steve arrived just a bit before the Center's opening, and has been the public face and driving int...