The album that made Jerry Garcia understand Bob Dylan: “Relevant to what was going on in my life”
Even though he’s one of the most famous and most successful artists of all time, not everyone fully understands the appeal of Bob Dylan, and when you break it down to all of the constituent parts of his artistry, you can begin to get a picture of why he doesn’t register with all listeners.
Having a hoarse voice that’s not always perfectly in tune tends to be the first stumbling block for many first-time listeners, with this raspiness often being a defining feature of his style. This is, of course, a major positive for some, with it adding a unique charm to his output, but on the other hand, it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to demand something a little more tuneful.
In addition to this, plenty of his songs are pared back to their bare minimum, with little in the way of arrangements and production flourishes to really back it up, especially in the earlier years of his career. This would later develop into something a little richer in sound, but for the majority of the early ‘60s, there was little more than just his voice, a guitar, and some rudimentary harmonica solos.
Then there’s the lyrical content, which while exemplary, can often be heavy going, and if you’re looking for a good time, you’re unlikely to find yourself having one listening to a Dylan record. Regularly tuned into political themes and protesting against war and conservative ideologies, he was praised for his emotive storytelling, but it’s not exactly easy-going stuff.
That being said, he’s still managed to amass a large amount of fans over the years, and for all of these faults that others pick up on, they also happen to be the features that draw others in, and it’s not just the public who come in droves to offer their praise to the folk legend, but also his contemporaries.
One notable fan of Dylan’s was Jerry Garcia, who with the Grateful Dead, covered a number of Dylan’s works as part of their live repertoire and on studio recordings. As a fellow proponent of counterculture, Garcia was tuned into similar beliefs and values as Dylan, and he showed solidarity with the singer on many occasions.
However, much like many other listeners, it took him some time to get into his work, and there’s one album in particular that he thanks for opening his eyes to Dylan’s genius. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1972, Garcia admitted that after hearing this record, he was suddenly aware that he was in the presence of something spectacular.
“Dylan was able to tell you the truth about that other thing,” he revealed. “He was able to talk about the changes that you’d go through, the bummers and stuff like that – and say it, and say it in a good way, the right way. I dug his stuff really from Bringing It All Back Home.
“Back in the folk music days I couldn’t really dig this stuff but on Bringing It All Back Home, he was really saying something that I could dig, that was relevant to what was going on in my life at the time. Whether he intended it that way or not is completely unimportant.”
Arguably Dylan at his finest, it’s certainly the album where he transitioned from simplistic folk songs into his ‘electric’ years, where his songs became more elaborate and had greater arrangements, and for someone of Garcia’s stature to notice this is not just an indication of its songwriting excellence, but just how influential it was to others around him.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.