A Place for Freedom

Abstract

In 1959, University of Minnesota freshman Robert Zimmerman found college stifling. His was a different muse, and it drew him to the fledgling folk music scene in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Dinkytown. By January 1961, however, Dinkytown had lived up to its name, so Zimmerman struck out for New York City. Success did not come instantaneously, but it did come quickly. After little more than a year, Zimmerman built a local following, signed with a manager, and landed a recording contract. Although his first 1962 album was a commercial failure, his live performances and collaborations with other musicians attracted attention. In 1963, the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, recorded one of his songs, helping to rescue his second album from obscurity, and Joan Baez invited him to perform with her at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival. Finally, in 1965, Zimmerman was able to place two of his songs in the top-ten chart position on his own. From that point onward, success was unstoppable. Over the next half century, he would win 11 Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award; be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame; and even merit a special citation by the Pulitzer Prize jury for “lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”¹ Of course, since in 1962 Zimmerman changed his name, the world knows him as Bob Dylan.