Folk-Bob Dylan

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Bob Dylan came into the world on May 24, 1941 in Minnesota. During high school he created his own bands and was greatly influenced by early rock stars. During college, while he attended the University of Minnesota, he began playing folk and country music in cafes. It was then he changed he began using the name Bob Dylan, “after the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.” In 1960 he dropped out of college and moved to New York to pursue his dream of playing folk music. While in New York Dylan befriend the legendary Woody Guthrie who was dying. They became good friends before Guthrie’s death. He wrote and produced a wide variety of albums over the years. Some criticized him when he changed styles and some of albums were not very popular and very few copies were sold. He took a lot of heat from his folk music fans when he began playing the electric guitar, and he never regained their support. After a near fatal motorcycle crash in July of 1966, he spent a year in seclusion recovering and when he left finally left his seclusion the next albums he wrote were country, and the not the famous folk that he was known for. He wrote a song after his split with his wife trying to win he back, although it didn’t work. He became a born again Christian, but that soon faded from his music as well. In 1989 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in 1994 he returned to his roots and won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for his work World Gone Wrong. In 1997 he was the first rocker to receive the Kennedy Center Honors, which is considered the highest honor for a musician.


Like every great musician while his music life was booming his personal life was a roller coaster always going up and down. After a romantic relationship with Joan Baez, a key figure in the 60’s protest movement, he wrote many of Baez’s material into music. He married Sara Lowndes in 1965 and they divorced in 1977. They had four children together: Jesse, Anna, Samuel, and Jakob. His son Jakob is the lead singer in a rock band that is on the up and up.

Although Dylan in 68, he shows no signs of slowing down, he continues to tour and even released an album in April of 2009. He is a legend in the music world and will forever be remembered when he passes on.

I listened to some of his music as well to accompany this post. One of his most famous songs, that I had no idea h e had even written is Knocking on Heavens Door. I watched a performance of this song on YouTube and I love the harmonica around his neck. That just makes me laugh because my high school American History teacher loves Bob Dylan and has a poster of a young Dylan on his wall and I saw it every day in class. Dylan’s voice is not what many would consider the best. It is bluesier and sort of rougher. His political music is well written. Some many criticize h is music, by his words hold truth. I like his music it is a nice change of pace from the norm of what is popular today. His political and folk music is moving. All of his music that I have heard had a nice rhythm and beat to them.



For more information:

http://www.biography.com/articles/Bob-Dylan-9283052



Picture from:

http://nicolasramospintado.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/bob-dylan.jpg