Folk Music

Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus. . . . No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylans imagination better. . . . Folk Music . . . [is an] ingenious book of close listening.David Remnick, New Yorker Named a Best Music Book of 2022 by Rolling Stone Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic.Hilton Als Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. In Folk Music, Greil Marcus tells Dylans story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcuss point of departure is Dylans ability to see myself in others. Like Dylans songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylans continuing presence and relevance through his empathyhis imaginative identification with other people. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.