Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Dylan’s Demos

For fans of Bob Dylan, many of whom rival those of a certain band from Vermont in obsessiveness, his Bootleg series has provided a treasure trove of both in-studio outtakes and live recordings from the singer-songwriter’s long and storied career. Tomorrow will see the release of The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964, which focuses on an interesting time in Dylan’s life. The iconic musician had just moved to New York City, was an unknown artist playing the folk clubs in Greenwich Village and had just signed his first publishing contracts.

The intimate recordings, which feature Dylan on just his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano, were given to professional copyists to turn into sheet music used to showcase his songs for other artists to record. The 47-track, double-disc set includes the original demos for classics like Blowin’ In The Wind, Masters Of War and The Times They Are A-Changin, as well as 15 tunes that have never officially been released. As a way to promote the album, Jennifer Lebeau created this short documentary which gives some insight and background on the release…

Bob Dylan continues his “never-ending” tour tomorrow night with a show at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN.