"It was not my goal to join the ranks of Dylan’s biographers, for whom I have the utmost respect. Instead my motivation for writing the book was to tell an important story that had never been fully told, a story about what is arguably Dylan’s greatest album (Blonde On Blonde), an album that transformed popular music and the city of Nashville, as well. It is surprising to me the story had not already been fully told, and I think that was in part because it’s a story mostly set in Nashville. Being based in Nashville and covering the rock and soul scene here for the past forty years, I was acquainted with most of the Nashville musicians who worked with Dylan on the record. I was also acquainted with Al Kooper from his time living in Nashville in the ’90s. I think one of the advantages of focusing on not only a single record, but this record in particular, was it allowed me to take the readers on a deep dive into Dylan’s process when he was at the peak of creative powers, and give them a ringside seat in the studio as Dylan and the musicians recorded his masterpiece."
D A R Y L S A N D E R S
Read the book!
Chicago Review Press
2019
