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I’m excited to announce that a Dylan Revisited book is now available.

Dylan Revisited: Busy Being Born (1960-66) tells the story of music’s most influential and divisive artist through the songs and performances captured on his studio albums, live recordings, bootleg releases, films, television appearances and singles. It tracks Dylan’s journey from a Greenwich Village folk wannabe to a protest hero then on to his controversial switch to electric rock’n’roll and the boos that followed him around the world.

The book is a collection of the revisits that I’ve posted to my website, plus 12 new chapters exclusive to Busy Being Born. These cover a range of additional early Dylan stories:
– Live performances, including an early informal set at the Indian Neck Folk Festival, 1963’s Town Hall and Carnegie Hall shows, and the Hollywood Bowl in 1965;
– Bootlegs like The Minnesota Hotel Tape;
– TV appearances on Folk Songs and More Folk Songs and Quest TV;
– Plus a deep dive in Dylan’s Newport appearances via the Murray Lerner films, Festival and The Other Side of the Mirror.

Esteemed Dylan critic Michael Gray said that Dylan Revisited is “Articulate, robust and thoughtful”, while the wonderful Dylan researcher and writer, Ray Padgett described Busy Being Born as “Meticulously researched and always bursting with revelatory details”.

I am very pleased with the final book, though mostly I love the cover, which was created by a friend of mine, Malika Favre. Her illustration originally graced the cover of The New Yorker, back when they did a feature on Dylan’s Nobel Prize for Literature award. Malika very kindly gave me permission to use her work, which was fitting, as I wrote most of it with a print of her Bob image staring down at me from the wall of my office. Check out Malika’s online shop if you too want to display her fantastic Bob print.

Dylan Revisited: Busy Being Born (1960-66) is available now in hardback, paperback and Kindle editions. Order your copy now

Other kind words:
“You might think you don’t need another book about this period in Bob Dylan’s career, but you’d be wrong. In Dylan Revisited: Busy Being Born, Colm Larkin uncovers both the man and the revolutionary work he created during his (first) creative peak, and also finds fascinating insight to share on all those in Dylan’s orbit.”
Matthew Ingate
– Author of Together Through Life: My Never Ending Tour with Bob Dylan

“Meticulously researched, beautifully written, and rich in passion. Busy Being Born is an original and welcome contribution to Dylan literature. I can’t recommend it enough.”
Martin Fitzgerald
– Author of The Umbrella Man and Ruth and Martin’s Album Club