The Bob Dylan Story at 70
written by Patrick Humphries
Produced by John Leonard and Kellie While
A Smooth Operations Production
First broadcast 17th to 22nd May 2011, BBC 6 Music
160K
Episode 1
Kris Kristofferson presents the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the first of a six part series marking the 70th birthday of the legendary singer songwriter.
It's 1961 and Bob moves from Minnesota to New York, hoping to perform there and to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. Soon, he becomes the most talked about artist on the Greenwich Village folk scene and begins to write the songs that came to define the 1960s such as Blowin' In The Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin'.
The programme features interviews with Dylan's contemporaries Tom Paxton, Jim Kweskin and Dave Van Ronck, who remember his earliest songs and performances. Plus John Hammond, the man who signed Bob to Columbia Records, recalls the making of the 21 year old's debut record. Also, Paul Simon admits the time was right for a folk revival and Joan Baez gives a rare insight into her contribution to Dylan's success.
Bob himself talks about the music that influenced him as a young man, first hearing Woody Guthrie, meeting Peter, Paul & Mary and walking out of the influential Ed Sullivan TV Show in 1963.
Featured tracks include Song To Woody from Dylan's 1962 eponymous debut, Blowin' In The Wind from his landmark follow up The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and title track from his third album The Times They Are A-Changin'.
Episode 2
Kris Kristofferson continues the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the second of a six-part series marking the 70th birthday of the iconic singer songwriter.
In the winter of 62/63 Bob makes his first trip to the UK - the British folk tradition would have a profound influence on his subsequent writing.
In 1965 he releases the landmark album Bringing It All back Home, The Byrds have a worldwide hit with his song Mr Tambourine Man and Dylan is seen performing in an early music video to Subterranean Homesick Blues in D A Pennebaker's seminal film Don't Look Back. He is still only 24 years of age.
His sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited is released and Like A Rolling Stone, the opening track, is a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. His electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival gets a hostile response from the folk establishment.
The programme features an interview with Martin Carthy, who talks about the influence traditional British folk music had on Dylan's work, and Peter Asher and Tom Robinson describe the importance of Dylan's arrival in the British pop charts. Also John Lennon and Carly Simon realise Dylan's lyrics mean so much more than anyone else's, Bob Geldof remembers the first time he heard Like A Rolling Stone and Joe Boyd, stage manager at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival recalls Dylan's controversial performance.
Episode 3
Kris Kristofferson continues the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the third of a six part series marking the 70th birthday of the iconic singer songwriter.
It's February 1966, and Bob Dylan travels to Nashville to shake up the town and make the best use of musicians Robbie Robertson, Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss and Al Kooper on one of the greatest rock and roll albums ever made Blonde On Blonde. Kris Kristofferson remembers the recording sessions that went on through the night - he was working as a janitor in studio where the album was recorded. Bob undertakes a world tour with The Band taking in a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with The Beatles in attendance, and a legendary confrontation between Dylan and the audience at Manchester's Free Trade Hall.
The programme features interviews with producer Bob Johnston and musicians Charlie McCoy and Robbie Robertson. Plus, Bob Geldof and Paul McCartney describe the excitement of Dylan's new electric sound and C P Lee, an audience member at the Free Trade Hall recalls the historic Manchester concert.
With classic tracks from Blonde On Blonde including Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands and Just Like A Woman.
Episode 4
Kris Kristofferson continues the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the fourth of a six part series marking the 70th birthday of the iconic singer songwriter.
During 1967, while The Beatles release Sgt Pepper and The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and The Doors are making their album debuts, Dylan rests at home in Woodstock as he recovers from his motorcycle crash of the previous summer. He records 150 songs at nearby Big Pink, a house rented by The Band, a handful of which would become the first bootleg recordings in rock history - The Basement Tapes. In 1968 he releases the country-tinged John Wesley Harding, his first studio album in almost 2 years, then he returns to Nashville to make an album with Johnny Cash. He performs alongside George Harrison and Ringo Starr at the Concert For Bangladesh. His 1973 album Planet Waves pleases the critics, but next Blood On The Tracks would send them into ecstasies and introduce Dylan to a whole new audience.
The programme features interviews with Tom McGuinness, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Robinson and Bob Geldof. Plus, narrator Kris Kristofferson remembers the time he spent with Dylan in Durango, Mexico making the film Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, for which Dylan wrote the classic Knocking On Heaven's Door.
Episode 5
Kris Kristofferson continues the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the fifth of a six part series marking the 70th birthday of the iconic singer songwriter.
It's 1976 and as the USA braces itself for the Bicentennial, Bob Dylan sets off in search of America - with a travelling band of musicians called The Rolling Thunder Review. He and The Band call time on performing together and hold a star-studded farewell concert in San Francisco called The Last Waltz. In an unexpected twist he is reborn as an evangelical Christian later that year resulting in three albums of inspirational material he released between 1979 and 1981. Bob performs at Live Aid, joins George Harrison and Roy Orbison in The Traveling Wilburys and finishes the decade on a critical high note with his 25th album Oh Mercy. Things Have Changed - Bob's first song of the 21st Century - is used in the film Wonder Boys and wins him a well-deserved Oscar.
The programme features the thoughts of George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof, Dylan biographer Patrick Humphries and folk musician Tom Paxton.
Episode 6
Kris Kristofferson concludes the story of his hero, his inspiration and his friend Bob Dylan in the final part of a series marking the 70th year of the iconic singer songwriter.
Bob Dylan enters the new millennium on a critical high with his 30th studio album Love & Theft.
He wins universal acclaim with the first volume of his autobiography, Chronicles, and collaborates with Martin Scorsese on the film biography No Direction Home.
In 2006 he makes his debut as a DJ with Theme Time Radio Hour, which runs to100 episodes, and delights listeners with his idiosyncratic observations linking records.
Just when you think he has no more surprises up his sleeve, in 2009 he cements himself into the festive season with the release of Christmas In The Heart.
The programme features interviews with broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, musician and Dylan biographer Sid Griffin and journalist Alan Jackson, who recalls interviewing Bob for a 2008 exhibition of his artwork.
With music from the No Direction Home soundtrack, Bob's first No. 1 album in 30 years Modern Times, and the latest volume of his Bootleg Series The Witmark Demos.
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