ARTICLE: American Culture + Bob Dylan

[Ryan Goble]

BOB DYLAN GREAT AMERICAN ARTIST

Linking to my first post today RESOURCES: American Studies + Popular Music - I came across an old Rolling Stone article by historian (Rice University) Douglas Brinkley in that same paper pile.

Bob Dylan's America
"Our greatest songwriter inhabits an alternate land of Chuck Berry and Walt Whitman, Texas gunslingers and murder ballads. And he may be the last man living there."

Brinkley does a great job of placing Dylan in historical and artistic context with the likes of artists. He also articulates Dylan's historical and artistic influences on his 2009 album Together Through Life. Clearly makes the case that Dylan is essential to any student of American Culture.

NOTE: For history teachers Brinkley points out that the Dylan-Hunter lyric in the song "If You Ever Go To Houston "references the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 as a remembrance of survival against adversity."

Rolling Stone has the issue guide here without full text. Fortunately, someone scanned the article and uploaded it as a PDF at SCRIBD.