Bob Dylan: About Man and God and Law

“This wasn’t a failure of creativity. It was a failure of curation,” said Rolling Stone in its recent review of Bob Dylan's Springtime in New York, Volume 16 of the Bootleg Series. But what we have here is failure to communicate. Rolling Stone should know better. It should know how this music feels. A failure to curate? A failure to communicate?  A close listen to one song alone from the collectio...

When a rock god dies, all of the music and myth of that shooting star shines a light into our eyes and memories. Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones' recent passing lit up the internet particularly brightly at a time when the darkness of mortality is on the minds of so many. In this episode, the first of season two, we're thinking about how to make sense of our inevitable end, and the power of mus...

It's been a while, but we're finally getting home. Understanding Bob Dylan as a teller of mythic tales (and something of a mythic figure himself), we're closing out Season One with a lesson in spiritual vision from "Like a Rolling Stone" that demands his fans and Dylan himself take on issues of race, sex, class, and essential purpose that haunt his greatest songs, but for which a resolution still...

With Bob Dylan's song maps to follow, we're heading straight into the heart of rock and roll mythology, a quest for a return home even when, like a rolling stone, there is no clear direction to get there. James Joyce and John Brown, a girl from Brownsville and Gregory Peck, and the ever prescient Warren Zevon bring us through part one of the final episode of Season One. Welcome to Episode 9 of Sea...

We are sitting in the front of the classroom again, this time hunkering down with the classical roots, poetic influences, and many odysseys of The Odyssey in the music and vision of Bob Dylan with Richard Thomas of Harvard University. Author of the award-winning book Why Dylan Matters, Thomas finds the deep influence of the poetic geniuses of the ages in Dylan's work, and we're here to find out wh...

Every musical artist comes up against a few musical mountains to climb. Perhaps the highest, good tidingest mountain of them all is the Christmas album. Elvis did one. Bing Crosby and the Jackson Five too. And so did Bob Dylan, 2009’s Christmas in the Heart. “Must Be Santa” was the single. Now what exactly was that all about? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're facing the December dilemma. What should we give Bob Dylan for the holidays — and what did he give us? Join both Elvis and Dylan singing the most popular Jewish song of all time, unwrap some of the identities that shape the season, and find out if it really must be Santa after all. It's that time of year again, kids: our holiday specialette, part one. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts L...

Bob Dylan is joined by Warren Zevon, Lenny Bruce, Dylan Thomas, Dante, Ma Rainey, and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on a journey from Minnesota Nice beyond death's sting to the place where music never dies. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Painter, poet, teacher, prophet, scribe. Who taught Bob Dylan his artistry and purpose? Dylan is not only one of our greatest teachers. He's also a student at the top of the class where tradition is taught, anchoring the world in the past while compelling time and purpose forward. We make room for Woody Guthrie, King Solomon, the Green Violinist, Johanna and her visions, Moby Dick, and many more a...

Maybe love is just a four letter word, but once you really spell it out, it still contains multitudes. We’re talking about love and only love that can’t be denied. We’re talking about finding someone who gives you all of the love. And — we’re sick of love. But not really. We’ve made up our minds to give Bob Dylan's love songs to you. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad...

Dylan says to live outside the law, you must be honest. But standing in line, waiting for your number to come up. Man, there's got to be a better way. Follow Dylan's journey of pawns, Joneses, messiahs, jokers, and dreams with good friends Warren Zevon, Orson Welles, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, our very special guest Franz Kafka. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're exploring history, artistry, philosophy, literature, pop culture, and religion woven through a deep listen to Bob Dylan’s music. Join us for a different theme each episode as well as conversations with thinkers and culture makers talking about God, the universe, and everything in the Age of Dylan. For more than half a century trying to understand Bob Dylan’s songs has been like unfolding the...