Author | Howard Sounes |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Bob Dylan |
Genre | Biography |
Publisher | Grove Press |
Publication date | May 24, 2001 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
ISBN | 0-8021-1686-8 |
Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan is a 2001 biography of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan by British writer Howard Sounes. It is notable for making public the knowledge of Dylan's marriage to Carolyn Dennis, and that the two had a daughter. [1] The book was published by Grove Press on May 24, 2001, to coincide with Dylan's 60th birthday. [2]
Variety 's Sherri Linden wrote of the book:
Sounes's spare, flat prose is at first a disappointment, given the poetic force of its subject. But in a relatively brief number of pages, as Bob tomes go, the author sketches a straight-ahead portrait, his interviews often reaping indelible anecdotes or quotes. The fast-paced book has a fine, never heavy-handed interest in details, interweaving stories of Dylan's domestic life with a chronicle of his prodigious output of 40-plus recordings, including his groundbreaking sessions in Nashville and seminal work with the Band. [2]
Linden also praised in particular Sounes's coverage of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour. [2] Neil Spencer, reviewing the book for The Observer , stated: "Engagingly written and scrupulously researched, it proves a sympathetic but never fawning account which moves evenly through Dylan's career; too evenly, since the comings and goings of years on the road are never going to yield the cultural payback of his mercurial Sixties." [3] Perry Meisel of The New York Times commended Sounes's coverage of Dylan's recording sessions and tour rehearsals, but critiqued the book for "succumbing to" a "myth[ic]" view of Dylan's later career, and concluded: "While Sounes has added a wealth of new information to Dylan studies, he has a tin ear when it comes to orchestrating what he has found." [4] Salon 's Allen Barra wrote that the book "has the definite virtue of being the last one you'll ever need to read about Dylan", though he criticized Sounes for perceivedly writing as "a fan, not a critic," and disagreed with Sounes's presentation of the state of rock and roll music in the early 1960s. [5]
In his 2021 book The Double Life of Bob Dylan: Vol. 1, 1941–1966: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, fellow Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin refers to Sounes as "a former tabloid reporter aka professional dirtdigger", and Down the Highway as a "depressingly well-trundled, semi-literate stroll". [6] [7] In response, Sounes called Heylin "a clunky, self-indulgent writer", and stated: "He seems to be very upset that, in 2001, I got a lot of publicity because I revealed that Dylan had a secret second marriage, to a woman called Carolyn Dennis, which made headlines all over the world and helped make the book a bestseller." [6] [7]
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963, by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is the twelfth studio album and first soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 13, 1973, by Columbia Records for the Sam Peckinpah film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Dylan himself appeared in the film as the character "Alias". The soundtrack consists mainly of instrumental music and was inspired by the movie itself. The album includes "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which became a trans-Atlantic Top 20 hit.
Under the Red Sky is the twenty-seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 1990, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Don Was, David Was, and Dylan.
Sara Dylan is an American former actress and model who was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1959, Noznisky married magazine photographer Hans Lownds; during their marriage, she was known as Sara Lownds.
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962–63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town." Dylan's lyrics are a protest against the Cold War nuclear arms build-up of the early 1960s.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie's folk songs, Robert Johnson's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Columbia Records first released an edited version as a single in March 1966, which reached numbers two and seven in the US and UK charts respectively. A longer version appears as the opening track of Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966), and has been included on several compilation albums.
"Bob Dylan's Dream" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1963. It was recorded by Dylan on April 24, 1963, and was released by Columbia Records a month later on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
Carolyn Dennis, sometimes known professionally as Carol Dennis or Carol Dennis-Dylan, is an American singer best known for her work with and marriage to Bob Dylan.
"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.
The Basement Tapes is the sixteenth album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the release of Blonde on Blonde and the subsequent recording and release of John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of Big Pink. While most of these had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.
Howard Sounes is a British author, journalist and biographer.
"Restless Farewell" is a song by Bob Dylan, released as the final track on his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin' in 1964. Dylan’s song is based on the Scottish/Irish folk song "The Parting Glass."
"Watching the River Flow" is a song by American singer Bob Dylan. Produced by Leon Russell, it was written and recorded during a session in March 1971 at the Blue Rock Studio in New York City. The collaboration with Russell formed in part through Dylan's desire for a new sound—after a period of immersion in country rock music—and for a change from his previous producer.
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 is a compilation album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, containing demo recordings he made for his first two publishing companies, Leeds Music and M. Witmark & Sons, from 1962 to 1964. The seventh installment of the ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, it was released on October 19, 2010 on Legacy Records.
"Santa-Fe" is a song that was recorded by Bob Dylan and the Band in the summer or fall of 1967 in West Saugerties, New York. It was recorded during the sessions that would in 1975 be released on The Basement Tapes but was not included on that album. These sessions took place in three phases throughout the year, at a trio of houses, and "Santa-Fe" was likely put on tape in the second of these, at a home of some of the Band members, known as Big Pink. The composition, which has been characterized as a "nonsense" song, was copyrighted in 1973 with lyrics that differ noticeably from those on the recording itself.
"John Wesley Harding" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the opening track on his 1967 album of the same name.
"Mama, You Been on My Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Written in 1964 during a trip to Europe, the song dealt with his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. Dylan first recorded the song in June of that year during a session for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. However, the song was not included on the album, and Dylan's version remained unreleased until 1991. In total, in the 1990s and 2000s four versions were put out on Dylan's Bootleg Series of releases, including two live performances with Joan Baez from 1964 and 1975.
"Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was written by Dylan in June 1961, and recorded on April 25, 1962, at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York, produced by John Hammond. It is a humorous talking blues, which Dylan wrote after Noel Stookey gave him a press clipping about how the sale of forged tickets for a Father's Day picnic trip to Bear Mountain State Park had led to overcrowding and injuries.
Helena Lisandrello, known professionally as Helena Springs, is an American singer. The singer was first a backup vocalist for Bob Dylan, starting in 1978 aged 17, and co-wrote 19 songs with him, more than any of his other collaborators. She was a vocalist for Dylan's 1978 World Tour, and the following year on his Gospel Tour. Springs appeared on his albums Street-Legal (1978), Bob Dylan at Budokan (1978), and Slow Train Coming (1979), as well as the compilation The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 (2017). She stopped working with Dylan in either late 1979 or early 1980.