What Bob Dylan's archive reveals

Material including drafts of some of Dylan's most famous songs comprise an archive that will be available for music experts to examine in Tulsa, Okla.

|
AP
Bob Dylan plays the harmonica and acoustic guitar in 1963.

New materials related to the work of legendary musician Bob Dylan has been obtained by organizations in Oklahoma.

Pieces include a notebook in which Mr. Dylan wrote various songs for his album “Blood on the Tracks”; drafts from Dylan’s poetry work “Tarantula”; various concert movies; and many other pieces of music material that could give more insight into the creative process of the singer. 

The archive has been obtained by the University of Tulsa and the Tulsa, Okla.-based George Kaiser Family Foundation. 

University staff and foundation staff will most likely reveal sometime in 2016 when the pieces will be put on display and when music experts will be able to examine the objects.

New York Times writer Ben Sisario wrote that from what has been revealed of the material so far, “it is clear that the archives are deeper and more vast than even most Dylan experts could imagine, promising untold insight into the songwriter’s work.” 

Dylan himself said of the news, “I’m glad that my archives, which have been collected all these years, have finally found a home and are to be included with the works of Woody Guthrie and especially alongside all the valuable artifacts from the Native American Nations. To me, it makes a lot of sense and it’s a great honor.” 

The area where the material will be displayed will reportedly be close to the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa. 

The archive could provide more information about the work of a musician who is often called one of the most significant in modern music.

Rolling Stone ranked Dylan at number two, below only the Beatles, in the magazine’s ranking of the greatest artists ever. 

Robbie Robertson of The Band wrote for Rolling Stone, “He is a powerful singer and a great musical actor, with many characters in his voice. I could hear the politics in the early songs. It's very exciting to hear somebody singing so powerfully, with something to say … I had never seen anything like it – how much he could deliver with a guitar and a harmonica, and how people would just take the ride, going through these stories and songs with him … He will always stand as the one to measure good work by.” 

Sean Wilentz, author of “Bob Dylan in America,” discussed with The Atlantic how Dylan influenced not only music but the 1960s in general and the culture in the US. 

“He's the most important songwriter of the last 50 years, in a culture in which songwriting has always been a major force,” Mr. Wilentz said.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to What Bob Dylan's archive reveals
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2016/0302/What-Bob-Dylan-s-archive-reveals
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe