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Is it still worth presenting Bob Dylan, aka Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941 inDuluth, Minnesota ? He spent his childhood in Hibbing and trained, as early as age 15, his first groupThe Golden Chords with Monte Edwardson guitar and LeRoy Hoikkala drums. His model is then LittleRichard. For the rehearsals that take place in the family garage, Robert Allen plays harmonica andguitar. In the absence of parents, the trio takes refuge in the living room where Robert Allen can proveto his friends that he can also play the piano. Like all American teenagers of his generation, RobertAllen will fall under the spell of Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marlon Brando, the three figures ofinsubordination. In 1959, under the pseudonym (first of a long list) of Elston Gunnn, he integrates thequintet of the singer Bobby Vee. Robert Allen will quickly tire of the narrow musical spectrum of Rock’n’ Roll and the indigence of most of the texts he conveys.＂Rock’n’roll wasn’t enough... the songsweren’t serious or didn’t reflect life in a realistic way＂. In September 1959, he left for Minneapolis,enrolled at the university and began to become passionate about Folk Music＂I knew that when Igot into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair,more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings＂. Discovering therecorded work of Woody Guthrie, he vows to become his most fervent disciple. In May 1960, RobertAllen finally abandoned his studies, took the road to Madison, Wauwatosa, Milwaukee (Wisconsin),with the unsurpassable horizon of the city of New York where he believes Guthrie resides. On Tuesday,January 24, 1961, Bob Dylan arrives at Greenwich Village, soliciting a commitment to Cafe Wha?without delay. This Coffee House on McDougal Street, was a hotbed of student youth. The followingMonday we find him on stage at Gerde’s Folk City on 4th street west, where gather the cream of folkmusicians, Logan Eberhardt English, Carolyn Hester, Ramblin ’Jack Elliott, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk,The Weavers (Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman & Pete Seeger), and also famous bluesmenlike Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee or Gary Davis... Dylan visits Woody Guthrie bedridden at GreystonePark Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey. From April 11, he became for two weeks the headliner ofGerde’s Folk City. In September Carolyn Hester invites him to participate in the recording of her thirdalbum for Columbia. October 26, 1961 Bob Dylan signs his first artist contract with John Hammondon behalf of Columbia. Less than a month later, the recording sessions began, culminating in thepublication, on March 19, 1962, of his first official album, whose sales peaked at 5,000 copies the firstyear. Under the name of Blind Boy Grunt he recorded for Broadside magazine a series of titles, mostof which will not be recorded by Columbia. The sessions of his second album, ’The Freewheelin’ BobDylan’, will begin in April 1962. The album will have two successive editions of 13 tracks, including fourdifferent from one press to another.
CD 1 Highway 51 1. You’re no good 2. Fixin’ to die 3. He was a friend of mine 4. House of the risin’ sun 5. Talkin’ New York 6. Song to Woody 7. Baby, let me follow you down 8. In my time of dyin’ 9. Man on the street 10. Man of constant sorrow 11. Pretty Peggy-O 12. See that my grave is kept clean 13. Gospel plow 14. Highway 51 15. Freight train blues 16. House carpenter 17. I was young when I left home 18. In the evening 19. It’s hard to be blind 20. Ramblin’ roundCD 2 Blowin’ in the wind 1. Talkin’ John Birch blues 2. Gamblin’ Willie’s dead man’s hand 3. Let me die in my footsteps 4. Blowin’ in the wind 5. Honey, just allow me one more chance 6. Down the highway 7. Bob Dylan’s blues 8. Corrina, Corrina 9. Solid road 10. Mixed up confusion 11. Don’t think twice, it’s all right 12. Oxford town 13. I shall be free 14. A hard rain’s a-gonna fall 15. Hard times in New York 16. Hard travelin’ 17. The ballad of Donald White 18. The death of Emmett Till 19. John Brown 20. Only a hobo
