Chronology
1966 | In April 1966, Dylan began a tour of Australia and Europe, backed by members of the group that would become The Band. The trip was surrounded by controversy; audiences found his electric sound difficult to accept, and several of the performances had walk-outs and catcalls from the audience. On 29 July near Woodstock, New York, Dylan was in a motorcycle accident and he disappeared from public view for many months. He would not tour again for eight years. 1967 | In spring 1967 Dylan’s former touring outfit, The Band, moved to Woodstock, where he was living. The recordings he made with them in the basement of their rented house were used as publishing demos but were also widely bootlegged and only legitimately released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes .
EARLY YEARS
Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival in front of an audience of 50,000. It was also during 1963 that his songs became associated with the civil rights movement, and on 28 August he sang at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – the rally where Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. 1964 | His fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan (August 1964), represented an important step in his maturity as an artist, combining an understanding of folk and blues traditions with a more sophisticated poetic approach. 1965 | In March 1965 Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home , which included scoring for electric instruments and signified his transition from acoustic music to rock and roll. The next month, he began a tour of Britain, and the excitement surrounding it was captured in the film documentary Don’t Look Back (1967), directed by Academy-award- winning cinéma vérité documentarian D. A. Pennebaker. Dylan’s single ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ was released on 20 July 1965 and became his first major hit. Five days later he showcased his new electric sound at the Newport Folk Festival, backed by members from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The event was a polarising moment, his performance greeted with boos and cheers in equal measure.
Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941. He grew up in the mining town of Hibbing and played in a number of rock-and-roll bands as a high- school student. In 1959 he enrolled at the University of Minneapolis, but he left during his freshman year.
THE SIXTIES
1961 | In January 1961, Dylan moved to New York City, where he visited his idol Woody Guthrie in hospital and performed in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village. Following a performance at New York’s Gerde’s Folk City in September, Dylan received public recognition through a review by critic Robert Shelton in the New York Times . His talents were brought to the attention of artists and repertoire producer John Hammond, and in October 1961 he signed a contract with Columbia Records.
1968 | Dylan’s first live appearance following the accident was on 20 January
1968 with The Band at a memorial concert for Woody Guthrie in New York City.
1962 | In March 1962 his first album, Bob Dylan , was released.
1969 | Dylan surprised fans for a second time with his release of Nashville Skyline , an album of country music (April 1969) . The single ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’ was a top-ten hit in both America and Britain. In May 1969, he appeared on the first episode of Johnny Cash’s new television show, singing several songs as duets with
1963 | His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (May 1963), made his name as a singer and song- writer. ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, which appeared on the album, was released by Peter, Paul and Mary and reached number two on the American music charts in July. In the same month,
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