This week we revisit the music of Bob Dylan with the intention of exploring his traditional influences…of which there are many. If it wasn’t Woody Guthrie, obviously a major imprint on his early career, then it might be Blind Willie McTell, or the stories of traditional Americana or European lineage. Parts of today’s show are loosely based, or maybe paraphrased, from a wonderful study of Dylan’s career in the context of American tradition including minstrelsy, gospel, folk, country, pop, and blues…all of those things that Dylan has imparted in sometimes not-so-subtle ways in his music. The book, Bob Dylan In America, published by Doubleday in 2010, was written by Sean Wilentz, contributing editor to the New Republic and Professor of History at Princeton.
