Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural chaos of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray has argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.
The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Métis fur-trading voyageurs introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
"It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the album, marked a departure for Dylan as he began to explore the possibilities of language and deeper levels of the human experience. Within a year of its release, the song was picked up as a single by folk rock act the Turtles and country artist Johnny Cash. Jan & Dean also covered the track on their "Folk 'N Roll" LP in 1965.
Low was an American indie rock band from Duluth, Minnesota, formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. The band was a trio from 1993 to 2020, having featured four different bassists. Following the death of Parker in 2022, Sparhawk disbanded the group.
"Positively 4th Street" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, first recorded in New York City on July 29, 1965. It was released as a single by Columbia Records on September 7, 1965, reaching No. 1 on Canada's RPM chart, No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song as No. 203 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters ever, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60 year career. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
Haley McCallum, professionally known as Haley and formerly Haley Bonar, is a Canadian-born American singer and songwriter who was raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. She has lived in Duluth and currently St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2009, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she spent a year writing songs for her 2011 album Golder. She plays acoustic guitar, baritone electric guitar, electric guitar, and Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric piano, either solo or with her Twin Cities-based band, including Jeremy Ylvisaker, Robert Skoro, and Jacob Hanson.
Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Mississippi John Hurt, and his self-professed "hero" "Spider" John Koerner. He plays a Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style. He is divorced from Emily Parr, who occasionally adds vocals to his music. He has two children.
Rick Shefchik is an American novelist, nonfiction writer, and journalist. He is the author of the novels Amen Corner, published in 2007, Green Monster, published August 1, 2008 by Poisoned Pen Press, Frozen Tundra, published in 2010 by North Star Press and Rather See You Dead, e-published in 2011. 2012 saw the release of his first book of nonfiction, From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota. In 2015, he released Everybody's Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota. In October 2021, he announced on Facebook that he was collaborating with musician Paul Metsa on a work of historical nonfiction centered on the Minnesota musicians who played on Bob Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks, for release in 2022 by the U of M Press.
Daniel Ira Kalb was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an original member of the 1960s group the Blues Project.
The Keep Aways is an American punk band from Duluth, Minnesota. Since releasing their début album in 2004, the band has toured the U.S. with Black Eyed Snakes and Low. The Keep Aways music has been compared to Babes in Toyland and The Gossip by the College Music Journal.
Echo Star Helstrom (1942–2018) was Bob Dylan’s high-school girlfriend in Hibbing, Minnesota. She met Dylan in 11th grade, and they were romantically involved for about one year. She was an influence on Dylan's development during his teen years in Hibbing, was a source for information on Dylan's early years, and may have inspired one or more of his songs.
Bob Dylan bootleg recordings are unreleased performances by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, that have been circulated throughout the public without undergoing an official, sanctioned release. It is commonly misconceived that bootlegs are only restricted to audio, but bootleg video performances, such as Dylan's 1966 film Eat the Document, which remains officially unreleased, are considered to be bootlegs. Dylan is generally considered to be the most bootlegged artist in rock history, rivaled only by the Grateful Dead.
Jeremy Ylvisaker is a multi-instrumentalist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a member of the indie rock bands Alpha Consumer and The Cloak Ox.
Chris Bates is an American jazz bassist. He started studying upright bass in the 4th grade, and he attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He studied with James Clute of the Minnesota Orchestra and jazz bassist Anthony Cox. Beyond his work with jazz, Bates performs in reggae, funk, country, folk and classical styles. He has performed with several notable musicians including Mose Allison, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Steven Bernstein, Howard Levy, Ira Sullivan, Eric Alexander, Tim Sparks and Dean Magraw. Bates was a member of the Motion Poets, formed in 1993, which "released three albums to wide critical acclaim." He received a McKnight Composers Fellowship for his compositions in 1999 and has performed on over 30 albums. Bates' first album as leader was released in 2012.
Mikelle Louise Budge, professionally known as Mary Mack, is an American comedian, musician, and writer. Mack currently stars as Jessica Wearsprada "Jesse" Opposites in the animated sitcom Solar Opposites, which debuted May 8, 2020 on Hulu/Disney+. She has released five albums of her stand-up.
The White Buffalo is the stage name of American musician and singer-songwriter Jake Smith, a baritone from Oregon influenced by folk musicians like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Smith's songs, from an array of at least ten extended play and studio albums appearing since 2002, have provided songs for a variety of popular American media, including the television series Sons of Anarchy, Californication, The Punisher, Longmire, This Is Us, as well as the surfing movie, Shelter (2001).
Walter Bell Conley was an American folk singer, Hollywood actor, voice actor, and owner of Denver's folk venue Conley's Nostalgia. The Rocky Mountain News described Conley as the founding father of Denver's folk scene, which began in the late 1950s and stretched into the mid-1960s. Conley shared stages with, and opened for, Josh White, Cisco Houston, Mama Cass Elliot, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and Judy Collins, among many others. Conley also opened his home to a young and unknown Bob Dylan in the summer of 1960, and introduced Denver to the little-known Smothers Brothers that same year. As the owner of Conley's Nostalgia, Walt brought in big-name performers such as John Fahey and Dave Van Ronk. To those who worked with him, knew him, and wrote about him, he is referred to as Denver's “Grandfather of Folk Music.” Conley remained an entertainer until his death from a massive stroke at the age of 74. At the time of his death, Conley was married to Joan Holden. Conley had four children from previous relationships. Conley's resting place is the Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.
Eric Pollard, known professionally as Actual Wolf, is an American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist best known for his instrumental work in Retribution Gospel Choir, Sun Kil Moon, Low and as the leader and songwriter for his eponymous band Actual Wolf.
