The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait – An Insightful Biography Combining Revelatory Interviews and Literary Analysis Reprint Edition

“Epstein, an accomplished poet and biographer, is one of the better stylists to tackle the Dylan story. . . . A musician himself, Epstein is particularly good on tunings and chord progressions, on where Mr. Dylan’s capo is placed in each song and the sound his harmonica makes clicking into its holder.” – David Yezzi, Wall Street Journal

“What sets Epstein’s book apart is its accessibility. . . . Epstein is refreshingly direct and approachable, and while the author, also a folk musician, makes much of his extensive quotes from Dylan’s lyrics, it is his own clear, emotional enthusiasm that carries the tale.” – Rob Fitzpatrick, Sunday Times (London)

“Even [Dylan] might approve of the mission that inspires the most recent crop of writing about him: to ‘celebrate the impossibility of pinning down Bob Dylan’. . . . That means exploring the desire for change that drove Dylan from the start and still consumes him . . . as Epstein understands in his biography.” – John Dickerson, Slate

“If you like Keith Richards’ Life, then read The Ballad of Bob Dylan. Just in time for the musician’s 70th birthday, Daniel Mark Epstein’s biography offers a vivid portrait of the visionary artist.” – US Weekly

“Offers a portrait that explodes the semi-hostile cliché of much unauthorized biography. New interviews and photographs add depth to an account distinguished by a fine sensitivity to all aspects of Dylan’s art, from the personal to the music’s history.” – Tim Martin, Telegraph (London)

“Brilliant―that Daniel Mark Epstein is both a poet and a biographer stands him in good stead in this penetrating, compassionate (but utterly clear-eyed), beautifully written portrait of Bob Dylan as an artist and a man. Among the very best writing about Dylan, ever.” – James Kaplan, author of Frank: The Voice

“In The Ballad of Bob Dylan, Daniel Mark Epstein does what few have been able to do at all, much less this well: capture that spirit, and in so doing, somehow manage to get closer to the essence of an American icon.” – Dave Moyer, New York Journal of Books

“Plenty of good works explore Dylan’s massive musical corpus but Epstein surpasses them in exploring Dylan’s personal relationships. . . . Bob Dylan needs a poet, not a biographer. . . . Epstein is the poet Dylan deserves.” – W. Scott Poole, PopMatters

“The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait, by the poet, biographer and translator Daniel Mark Epstein, begins with an account of a solo Dylan concert the author attended on Dec. 14, 1963. It’s a beautiful thing, how he brings this evening back to life.” – Jim Windolf, New York Times Book Review

“Epstein is not essentially a hagiographer, and . . . he remains essentially clear-eyed about his subject’s achievements and failings. The Dylan that emerges in these pages is by turns ambitious, seductive, single-minded, generous, cruel, witty, kind, gnomic, blunt, and charismatic. . . . The accumulation of detail gives texture to Epstein’s depiction of Dylan as a performer, which in turn buttresses his often perceptive analysis of the songs, both as texts and as performed works. . . . Epstein has a knack for sharp, indelibly etched character sketches. . . . Epstein’s skills as an interviewer serve up a few unforgettable passages.” – Webster Younce, National Review

“A galvanizing interpretation of Dylan’s many masks and achievements. . . . Illuminates the complex symbiosis between Dylan’s theatricalized personas and ever-evolving art.” – Booklist

“Raptly observant. . . . Historian and poet Epstein (The Lincolns) structures his loose-jointed chronicle around exegeses of iconic Dylan concerts he attended, analyzing the songs and the shifting persona of the singer: in 1963, the visionary 22-year-old folkie; in 1974, the bristling 30-something rocker; in 2009, the hoarse old man growling at Fate. It’s a canny approach, given that Dylan’s mythmaking―the middle-class son of a Minnesota appliance-store owner, he romantically styled himself a wandering orphan―outran the prosaic reality. . . . Will entrance hardcore Dylanophiles.” – Publishers Weekly

“Insightfully written. . . . Epstein makes no apologies for being a longtime Dylan fan; in fact, he turns that into one of his book’s greatest strengths, not shying from the highs and lows that come with fandom. The Baltimore resident structures his narrative around four Dylan shows he’s attended over the years―concerts that correspond to important developments in Dylan’s career. He examines them with passion and precision, consistently nailing what makes Dylan such a fascinating figure. . . . Along the way, he astutely notes Dylan’s evolution from wise-cracking ‘60s child to wizened grandfather―a transformation that both humanizes and dignifies its subject.” – John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine

“Epstein is at his best dealing with his subject’s Minnesota boyhood, embrace of folk music and meteoric early-’60s ascent; fresh recollections from Nora Guthrie, daughter of Dylan’s role model Woody Guthrie, highlight the early going. Likewise, later chapters on the making of the important albums Time Out of Mind (1997) and Love and Theft (2001) benefit from revealing interviews with session men like drummer David Kemper and the late keyboardist-raconteur Jim Dickinson.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Though he covers all the landmarks in Dylan’s life, Epstein is not engaged in biography in the strictest sense; rather, he presents an idiosyncratic and elliptical charting of Dylan’s progress, and of his own life, through close examination of specific Dylan concerts he has attended through the years. . . . As a near-contemporary of Dylan, Epstein is in a better position than most to show how the meaning of an artist’s work, and the nature of that work’s effect on its audience, evolves over the long haul. An unabashed fan, Epstein is still no sentimentalist.” – Ian McGillis, Montreal Gazette

“Intense and intimate. . . . Happily, the book is laced through with Dylan’s lyrics. While many of these are now taken for granted as part of the vernacular, Epstein makes you appreciate anew just how many memorable words have flowed out of just one man. . . . A satisfyingly clear portrait emerges from the shadows, ever sharpening the focus on the most cleverly elusive artist in the age of media saturation.” – John Belknap, Jewish Chronicle

“A historian who’s written about Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman, Epstein’s reflections on Dylan are as readable and non-pretentious as any. Also more up-to-date, obviously.” – The Record (California)

Through the lens of four seminal concerts, acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein offers an intimate, vivid, and comprehensive portrait of Bob Dylan. Beginning in 1963, Epstein revisits Dylan’s early struggles to find artistic direction; his transition from folk icon to rock star; and his secluded family life and divorce. A breathtaking account of Dylan’s Never Ending Tour and his contemporary studio sessions brings us full circle, revealing how Dylan revived a flagging career and accepted his role as the éminence grise of rock and roll today.

Drawing on new interviews with those closest to Dylan—including Maria Muldaur, Nora Guthrie, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott—The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a singular take on an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.