I found the key to all music

The most amazing music education of my life, and still going.

Bob Dylan wrote well over 600 songs in his lifetime. So many that he has forgotten more of his songs than most artists have written. The type of music that he has written has spread across so many genre’s that it is practically it’s own genre. He has ebbed and flowed so beautifully that unless you take his music from start to finish (1964-current) you may not even notice it. Around the time of my 46th birthday I asked my dad about The Band and why they came up with that name. He told me about it and had me watch the movie/documentary The Last Waltz. I was listening to a few of the songs and went off into left field with it searching for Bob Dylan songs. I originally was trying to find a song that he performed that was better than any person that covered it. I have heard many times that he was more a songwriter than a singer. He had so many songs that other people sang and I couldn’t believe that he didn’t have a song that he wrote and sang better than other people covering it. I found the song, House of the Rising Sun, which he sang but did not write and it started me on this journey of Bob Dylan that I am still currently on. I found so many songs that I liked in just a few hours. Where was I during all this magical music? Why hadn’t I heard all these songs already? I found not only did I love every song I heard but that I needed to hear them all! I decided that the best way to tackle this large catalog of songs was to start at the beginning and take it one year at a time in chronological order. I included the movies, documentaries, and bootlegs. I also took a detour into The Band era; Read the Robbie Robertson autobiography, several Bob Dylan biographies and the Bob Dylan “autobiography?” Chronicle I. I am up to about 1989 right now in music with a little skipping ahead here and there. I can’t be more grateful for what I have discovered. It is like music never made complete sense before and I just found the code decipher book. I have found the most amazing gift in one artist. Even though I was wishing that I had found it before, I have come to realize that I may have found it at the perfect time. I found it while he was still alive ( I jumped deep into Leon Russell after he had passed and it was great but very melancholy) and I was able to take it all in from start to finish; to see it as a whole, in order that it happened but much faster. I wasn’t there at the time so I was seeing and listening as an outsider looking in from the future. It is absolutely perfect and I believe it has been the best way to experience him. I did not have to listen while there were haters and disgruntled fans. I didn’t have to see the twists and turns so slowly. I was able to listen after it was realized what an epiphany he truly was to the music world.

If there is anyone out there who has not yet “discovered” Bob Dylan, I suggest that you take a dive into it, for your sake:

If you are a Folk music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Rock & Roll fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Rockabilly fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Country fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Bluegrass fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Religious/Jesus music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Sinatra fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are an Americana fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are an 80’s music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Rap music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Punk rock fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Blues music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Pop music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Reggae music fan - There is a Dylan for that,

If you are a Heavy Metal, Headbanger music fan…..sorry, you need to rethink your music, because there is NOT a Dylan for that!