The Formative Dylan: Transmission and Stylistic Influences, 1961-1963

The Scarecrow Press

"The Formative Dylan examines the musical roots of 70 songs from Dylan's early career, namely from his first three Columbia LPs, officially released outtakes from those sessions, and his Broadside session recordings released by Folkways. Each of these songs is presented in a short article that details melodic and lyric roots and describes contemporaneous performances to show the process by which Dylan learned or composed his formative repertoire. Three appendices help the reader to understand this repertoire not only in the continuum of American music but as a reflection of Dylan's own compositional development."