The 1960s

1961: Dylan arrives in New York and meets his idol, Woody Guthrie, who at the time was a patient in a New York hospital. He performs to increasing acclaim, and plays harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album. By the end of the year, he is signed to Columbia Records.

1962: He releases his eponymous debut album, which features two original songs and a set of a classic blues and folk songs. Amazingly, though Dylan is only 20, he conveys the authority of a veteran bluesman. His October concert at the Gaslight in New York becomes one of his most bootlegged shows ever, and is finally released officially in 2005 — exclusively at Starbucks stores.

1963: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan features signs of Dylan’s remarkable growth as a songwriter; it includes the classic protest songs “Blowin’ in the Wind” (which becomes a hit single for Peter, Paul, and Mary), “Masters of War,” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” as well as the heartbreaking “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Girl from the North Country.” A proposed live album, In Concert, is shelved, but later becomes an essential bootleg.

1964: Dylan releases his most pointed “protest” album, The Times They Are A-Changin’.

He then renounces protest with Another Side of Bob Dylan and “It Ain’t Me Babe.” A Halloween concert in New York, featuring Joan Baez, offers a powerful document of Dylan’s acoustic peak; it is widely bootlegged, but not officially released until 2004.

1965: Dylan goes electric, first with Bringing It All Back Home, then with a live performance at the Newport Folk Festival — where he is roundly booed — and finally with Highway 61 Revisited, featuring the seminal “Like a Rolling Stone.” The Newport performance remains unreleased, but can be found on the bootleg Folk Rogue.

1966: The May 16 release of Blonde on Blonde completes the electric trilogy begun the previous year. Dylan's controversial 1966 World Tour with the Hawks ends in England that month. On July 29, Dylan had a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York, resulting in the cancellation of 60 concerts scheduled for 1966-67. He would not tour again for eight years.

1967: Holed up in Woodstock, Dylan and the Hawks/Band record The Basement Tapes, which become the first widely circulated bootleg. At the end of the year, he releases the spare, allegorical John Wesley Harding, featuring the enduring classic “All Along the Watchtower.”

1968: Dylan’s first public performance since his motorcycle accident comes at a Woody Guthrie memorial concert at Carnegie Hall. Otherwise, nothing.

1969: Both Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding were recorded in Nashville, but this year sees the release of a genuine country album, Nashville Skyline, which features the hit “Lay Lady Lay,” with Dylan’s hoarse growl replaced by a nasal croon. His only concert appearance is at England’s Isle of Wight, before 100,000 people; he also appears on Johnny Cash’s TV show. A studio session with Cash results in a loose bootleg of country covers. In December, his son Jakob, who later forms the Wallflowers, is born.

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Latest page update: made by Anonymous, Apr 2 2007, 9:04 PM EDT (about this update - complete history)

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