Bob Dylan

Mixing Up the Medicine

New Hardback Illustrated

Postscript summary

The Bob Dylan Archive in Tulsa spans the singer-songwriter’s six-decade career and its manuscript drafts, notebooks, photographs and video footage offer insights into his creative process as much as his life story. For this well-illustrated tribute, numerous writers, artists and fellow musicians were invited to choose an item from the Archive on which to base an essay; taken together, their words cast light on Dylan’s past, the themes that run through his work, and his artistry.

Product information

Publisher: Callaway
Year: 2023
Format: Hardback
Pages: 608pp
Illustrated: Yes
Dimensions: 278x222mm
Condition: New
Weight: 2.5kg
ISBN: 9781734537796
Product code: 538949

Full publisher description

BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is an unprecedented glimpse into the creative life of one of America's most groundbreaking, influential and enduring artists.

'If there is anything new to be discovered about Bob Dylan, you can probably find it in The Bob Dylan Centre... Now the Bob Dylan Centre is publishing its first book, essentially the archive in miniature: Bob Dylan: Mixing up the Medicine. It is a 608-page tome examining over 1000 images and objects culled from the collection by archivists and curators Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel.' - The Telegraph

Several years ago, a treasure trove containing some 6,000 original Bob Dylan manuscripts was revealed to exist. Their destination? Tulsa, Oklahoma. The documents, as essential as they are intriguing-draft lyrics, notebooks, and diverse ephemera- comprise one of the most important cultural archives in the modern world. Along with countless still and moving images and thousands of hours of riveting studio and live recordings, this priceless collection now resides at The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just steps away from the archival home of Dylan's early hero, Woody Guthrie.

Nearly all the materials preserved at The Bob Dylan Center are unique, previously unavailable, and, in many cases, even previously unknown. As the official publication of The Bob Dylan Center, BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is the first wide-angle look at the Dylan archive, a book that promises to be of vast interest to both the Nobel Laureate's many musical fans as well as a broader cultural audience.

Edited by Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel, BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE focuses a close look at the full scope of Dylan's working life, particularly from the dynamic perspective of his ongoing and shifting creative processes-his earliest home recordings in the mid-1950s right up through Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020), his most recent studio recording, and into the present day.

The centerpiece of BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is a carefully curated selection of over 600 images including never-before-circulated draft lyrics, writings, photographs, drawings and other ephemera from the Dylan archive.

With an introductory essay by Sean Wilentz and epilogue by Douglas Brinkley, the book features a surprising range of distinguished writers, artists and musicians, including Joy Harjo, Greil Marcus, Michael Ondaatje, Gregory Pardlo, Amanda Petrusich, Tom Piazza, Lee Ranaldo, Alex Ross, Ed Ruscha, Lucy Sante, Greg Tate and many others. After experiencing the collection firsthand in Tulsa, each of the authors was asked to select a single item that beguiled or inspired them. The resulting essays, written specifically for this volume, shed new light on not only Dylan's creative process, but also their own.

BOB DYLAN: MIXING UP THE MEDICINE is the magnum opus every Bob Dylan fan has been waiting for since the 60s and will be a landmark publication for the ages.

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