The Times Got it Right

…in 1961. One of the most fascinating artifacts in the Bob Dylan show that opened today at the Morgan Library and Museum was this article from the NY Times, which exactly 45 years ago today reviewed the little-known 20-year-old’s set at Gerde’s Folk City and essentially launched Dylan’s career. The article caught the attention of John Hammond of Columbia Records. The rest is history.
Dylan’s unsung hero, Times writer Robert Shelton, called him “a bright new face” and captured a good likeness of the singer/songwriter we all came to know:
Mr. Dylan’s voice is anything but pretty. He is consciously trying to recapture the rude beauty of a Southern fieldhand musing in melody on the porch. All the “husk and bark” are left on his notes and a searing intensity pervades his songs….
Mr. Dylan’s highly personalized approach toward folk song is still evolving. He has been sopping up influences like a sponge….If not for every taste, his music-making has the mark of originality and inspiration, all the more noteworthy for his youth.
COMING SOON: More on Dylan at the Morgan.