Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan) (b. 1941)
Bob Dylan is one of the most important songwriters and musicians of our time. He has written hundreds of powerful songs and progressed through a number of performance styles.
Gil Turner introduced Dylan to the Broadside office in 1962, and in the early years of the magazine, Dylan was listed on the masthead as a contributing editor. He appeared at a number of Broadside events and recorded songs for the magazine on the office's home tape recorder on a number of occasions. Seven of these recordings were released on Broadside Records under the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt. "Talking John Birch" appeared in issue 1 of the magazine. It was the first time one of Dylan's compositions had been published. The first printing of his "Blowin' in the Wind" appeared in the magazine later in 1962.
The Best of Broadside: 19. "John Brown"
John Brown is a classic antiwar ballad closest in spirit to "Mrs. McGrath," which also tells the story of a soldier returning home to his mother, and was a staple in the performing repertoire of Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. This powerful Dylan composition was never released on an authorized recording until Dylan performed a version very different from this one on his MTV Unplugged album in 1995.
Bob Dylan. Photo by Diana Davies.
The Best of Broadside: 30. "The Ballad of Donald White"
After reading a newspaper article, Bob Dylan wrote Ballad of Donald White about a Seattle convict who was released from prison due to overcrowding. White found it impossible to cope in society, so he asked to be returned to prison and was refused. Finally he killed a man in order to return to prison, and he was subsequently executed. Dylan used the tune and spirit of the Canadian folk song "Peter Emberly," which he first heard performed by Bonnie Dobson at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village.
Text extracted from the notes by Jeff Place accompanying The Best of Broadside.
Smithsonian Folkways recordings featuring Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan):
Broadside Ballads, Volume 1 (FW05301)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 6: Broadside Reunion (FW05315)
We Shall Overcome: Documentary of the March on Washington (FW05592)
The Fast Folk Musical Magazine (FFSE107)