Bob Dylan: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
Daniel Kramer, Bob Dylan (1967), is primarily a book of photos by the photographer who had the least-restricted access to Dylan at crucial moments. Anthony Scaduto, Bob Dylan (1971, reissued 1996), is the earliest biography, though not the best. Robert Alexander and Michael Gross, Bob Dylan: An Illustrated History (1978), another comparatively early biography, is opinionated but sprinkled with interesting photos and fairly accurate. Jonathan Cott, Dylan (1984), is a masterful collection of photos and a smattering of high-concept text in an oversize coffee-table book from the publishers of Rolling Stone. Years in the making, Robert Shelton, No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan (1986, reprinted 1997), is the most ambitious of the biographies but ultimately lacks focus.
Bob Spitz, Dylan: A Biography (1989, reprinted 1991), is the most accurate and readable. Unlike the gossipy accounts of other writers who have obsessed about Dylan, Paul Williams, Performing Artist: The Music of Bob Dylan, The Early Years, 1960â1973 (1990), Bob Dylan: Performing Artist: The Middle Years, 1974â1986 (1992), and Bob Dylan: Performing Artist: 1986â1990 & Beyond: Mind Out of Time (2004), present serious studies of Dylanâs life and work. Richard Williams, Dylan: A Man Called Alias (1992), another oversize compendium, presents a less-arresting collection of photos than Cottâs Dylan but offers an Englishmanâs perspective that is academic and sobering. Al Kooper, Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ânâ Roll Survivor (1998), presents a firsthand account of many of the most pivotal moments in Dylanâs career.
Perhaps the most informative of more recent biographies of Dylan is Howard Sounes, Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan (2001). David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina (2001), examines the intersection of Dylanâs life with those of three early intimates. Mike Marqusee, Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylanâs Art (2003), focuses Dylanâs work in a political context. Christopher Ricks, Dylanâs Visions of Sin (2003), is a consideration of Dylanâs oeuvre from a literary perspective by a scholar known best for his examination of English poetry and English poets. Clinton Heylin, Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957â1973 (2009), is a comprehensive chronological account of Dylanâs song output over a 17-year period. Much more specific in its focus is Greil Marcus, Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, which pinpoints Dylan at arguably the apex of his creative genius.
Researcher's Note
As a musician, songwriter, and producer, Al Kooper has been involved with rock music since 1958. A member of the seminal blues-rock band the Blues Project, he also founded the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears and discovered and produced Southern rock pioneers Lynyrd Skynyrd. His quirky, influential keyboard style first emerged with his distinctive organ playing on Bob Dylanâs âLike a Rolling Stone.â Kooperâs serendipitous involvement in that legendary recording session was the first of several times that he was to be an important participant in events that were landmarks in Dylanâs career. Kooper was part of the backing band at Dylanâs first live performance with electric accompaniment, at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He also was in the band at Dylanâs second (and in some ways more cataclysmic) electric performance, at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. When Dylan went to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1966 to record his groundbreaking Blonde on Blonde album, Kooper was a key session player, as he was on New Morning (which he also produced) in 1970. In 1981 Kooper was part of Dylanâs touring band, and he performed on five of Dylanâs studio albums in the 1980s. His autobiography, Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ânâ Roll Survivor (1998), contains many anecdotes relating to his longtime association with Dylan.
In addition to writing this biography of Dylan, the author contributed three audio clips providing firsthand accounts of the âLike a Rolling Stoneâ recording session and the Newport and Forest Hills performances.
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Al Kooper
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: All About Jazz - Bob Dylan. | Sep 14, 2026 | ||
| Added top questions and noted his appearance at the March on Washington and his views on his persona. | Jul 24, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | May 20, 2026 | ||
| Added a list of representative works. | May 22, 2025 | ||
| Replaced media. | Mar 26, 2025 | ||
| Added head levels and media. | Dec 22, 2024 | ||
| Deleted media. | Nov 08, 2024 | ||
| First paragraph modernization. | Feb 28, 2024 | ||
| Media added. | Feb 21, 2024 | ||
| Added cross-reference. | Oct 30, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: All About Jazz - Bob Dylan. | Jul 03, 2023 | ||
| Link added. | Jan 25, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: The Nobel Prize - Bob Dylan. | Aug 23, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: Jewish Virtual Library - Bob Dylan. | Aug 18, 2022 | ||
| Removed media. | Nov 01, 2021 | ||
| Media added. | Jul 16, 2021 | ||
| Add new Web site: LiveAbout - Chronobiography of Bob Dylan. | Feb 17, 2021 | ||
| Added the album Rough and Rowdy Ways. | Nov 20, 2020 | ||
| Add new Web site: The MY HERO Project - Biography of Bob Dylan. | Dec 05, 2019 | ||
| Added the albums Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels, and Triplicate. | May 31, 2018 | ||
| Media added. | Mar 22, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Biography of Bob Dylan. | Jan 10, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Official Site of Bob Dylan. | Jan 09, 2017 | ||
| Updated article to mention Dylan winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. | Oct 13, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: Songwriters Hall of Fame - Biography of Bob Dylan. | Feb 05, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: AllMusic - Bob Dylan. | Feb 05, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Poetry Foundation - Biography of Bob Dylan. | Feb 05, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Bob Dylan. | Apr 08, 2013 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Nov 12, 2012 | ||
| He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. | May 31, 2012 | ||
| In 2012 he was named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. | Apr 27, 2012 | ||
| Media added. | Feb 11, 2011 | ||
| Added photograph. | Aug 28, 2009 | ||
| Updated to mention Together Through Life's debut at number one in the British album chart. | May 06, 2009 | ||
| Bibliography updated. | May 06, 2009 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Apr 08, 2008 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Oct 03, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: TIME 100: Bob Dylan. | May 11, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Feb 09, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jan 21, 1999 |