Bob Dylan arrived in New York City one winter morning in 1961. His music and spirit would go on to have a huge impact on popular music for decades. What hardly anyone knew then was that—like so many before him—Dylan was concealing his Jewish origins. He had been born Robert Allen Zimmerman to Jewish parents in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941. Dylan’s instincts for escape and reinvention have helped shape his long career, says author Harry Freedman, who writes on Jewish culture and history.
Freedman traces the heady creativity of the 1960s and the folk revival movement spearheaded by Dylan right up until the moment in 1965 when he stepped out onto the stage at the Newport Folk Festival and went electric. In addition, Freedman explores how Dylan’s musical decisions, genius for reinvention, and Jewish roots go hand in hand.
Freedman’s book Bob Dylan: Jewish Roots, American Soil (Bloomsbury) is available for purchase.
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