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 reviews that have been made of the previous three editions of the book are stellar: "Song & Dance Man III is probably the greatest book about the work of a single popular musician ever to have been published. ” said The London Review Bookshop, as one example. You can order Vol. 1 of the re-release series on Amazon in print or on kindle.
In this episode we talk about Chapter One, the Bob Dylan who arrived in New York City and immediately stood out, for his approach to folk music long before his songwriting abilities were on display. Michael talks of Dave Van Ronk and how Dylan related to the Blues greats he was able to meet. Later we talk of his first album and the songwriting abilities that seem to have arrived fully formed.
What you'll hear is why Michael Gray is the man The Bob Dylan Center invited to be the featured speaker at their First Anniversary, someone who can and does help all of us to better understand and more deeply enjoy the work of Bob Dylan.
This series will continue in future episodes of Dylan.FM. Subscribe so you don't miss any of them.
LINKS:
- Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan - Vol 1. Language and Traditions (Amazon)
- MichaelGray.net
- The FM Press
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