Dylan

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Art by Resa McConaghy (copyrighted) 

Dylan grew up in the northeastern Minnesota mining town of Hibbing. Inspired by the music of Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Ray, he acquired his first guitar at the age of fourteen.  As a high school student, he played in n a series of rock and roll bands. While attending college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he discovered the bohemian section of Minneapolis known as Dinkytown. Fascinated by Beat poetry and folksinger Woody Guthrie, he began performing folk music in coffeehouses, adopting the last name Dylan (after the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas). Determined to meet Guthrie who was confined to a hospital in New Jersey, Dylan relocated to the East Coast.

Dylan’ first album was released in March 1962 to mixed reviews. His voice, a cowboy lament laced with Midwestern patois, with an obvious nod to Guthrie confounded many critics. By comparison, Dylan’s second album, ”The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (released in May 1963), sounded a clarion call, establishing Dylan as part of the burgeoning counterculture.