I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
-Bob Dylan to Les Crane, February 1965
If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
-Bob Dylan to Robert Shelton, June 1978
To me, Hank Williams is still the best songwriter.
-Bob Dylan to Paul Zollo, April 1991
Hiram King “Hank” Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one (three posthumously).
Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter and member of the folk music group Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most successful folk music groups of the 1960s. Unlike most folk musicians of the early 1960s who were a part of the burgeoning music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Travers grew up there. A contralto, Travers released five solo albums in addition to her work with Peter, Paul and Mary.
I’m a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice.
~Bill Monroe
“To me there’s no difference between Muddy Waters and Bill Monroe.”
~Bob Dylan (to John Pareles, Sept 1997)
William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the style of music known as bluegrass. Because of this, he is commonly referred to as the “Father of Bluegrass“.
John R. “Johnny” Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. His genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.
Breathtaking, mythmaking, heartbreaking, the songs and ballads of Bob Dylan’s Tempest are composed of intricately patterned rhyme and sound. No other songwriter can marry words and music as richly as Dylan can, and the perfect ten tracks of this record come straight to us from a bard’s ear and a poet’s pen.
– Anne Margaret Daniel of Hot Press in her review of Tempest
Bob Dylan released the wonderful album “Tempest” seven years ago today.
Tempest is the thirty-fifth studio album by Dylan, released on September 10, 2012 . The album was recorded at Jackson Browne’s Groove Masters Studios in Santa Monica, California. Dylan wrote all of the songs himself with the exception of the track “Duquesne Whistle”, which he co-wrote with Robert Hunter.
