Thanks to my local paper The Ems and journalist Jane Gregory for featuring me, talking about my Bob Dylan book, in their summer issue.

On July 3rd 1975, Bob Dylan played a new song at an impromptu appearance in a small Greenwich Village folk club. The track could have been a highlight of Desire, the album he was about to start recording, but most Dylan fans wouldn’t hear Abandoned Love for another decade. More below 👇

I was delighted to be one of the first guests on a new podcast series called The Domino Theory, hosted by @rickdoughertytgtt.bsky.social. Watch and listen to Rick and I talking about my book Busy Being Born, seeing Bob Dylan live and the enduring power of Hattie Carroll. Link below 👇

Big thanks to @dylanbooks.bsky.social for including Busy Being Born in its July newsletter roundup. It's an honour for my book to be discussed in the same space as great biographers like Robert Shelton, Howard Sounes and Ian Bell, as well as Bob's own Philosophy of Modern Song. Link 👇

If you're still checking in over at the other place, you may have seen the Bob Dylan World Cup that I've been running over the past month. I recently spoke to @cult-following.bsky.social about the inspiration behind the tournament and who I think will win it. Link 👇

Me and @4hundredblows.bsky.social recording a podcast episode about Broadside Ballads Vol. 1. Martin is probably about to compare Bob Dylan to The Jesus and Mary Chain. This new episode is available now wherever you get your podcasts. Links to follow 👇

SHAFT! Is that really Richard Roundtree just behind Arlo Guthrie, sharing a stage with Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Melanie and Dennis Hopper at the 1974 Friends of Chile Benefit?

If you're in the UK and like to get your books from a proper book shop, I'm pleased to say that the Dylan Revisited book, Busy Being Born (1960-66) is now available at Waterstones. Link below 👇

Really pleased to see Busy Being Born on the shelf of my home town's lovely independent book shop, Bantry Bookshop.

UK-based Dylan fans... You can still get hardbacks and paperbacks of Dylan Revisited: Busy Being Born (1960-66) in time for Father's Day - it's this Sunday. It makes a fine gift for your dad or just treat yourself. www.amazon.co.uk/Dylan-Revisi... #fathersday #musicbooks #giftsfordad

Saw Elvis Costello in Brighton last night with the magnificent Charlie Sexton - you can just about see him on the right.

There's still time to get a copy of Dylan Revisited: Busy Being Born (1960-66) in time for Father's Day. Links below 👇👇

The World Cup starts today - an event as dear to my heart as Bob Dylan. Can't imagine he'll be watching though. More of a baseball and boxing guy. Plus, he's busy touring. Is he playing anywhere near a World Cup venue? Could you easily watch a game during the day then see Bob that night?

Interesting - mine has a blue cover

From Al Grossman squeezing TV producers for extra cash to Joan Baez eating fruit, Dont Look Back is a film about Bob Dylan, where the supporting characters almost steal the show. Listen to the latest episode of the Dylan Revisited podcast for a full revisit to this magnificent film. Links 👇

With Father's Day approaching, are you looking for a gift for your Dylan-obsessed Dad? Or want to drop heavy hints to your family about a present you would actually like to receive? I recommend the Dylan Revisited book: Busy Being Born (1960-66). Order now to receive by June 21. Link 👇

A new Willie Nelson song, I Can’t Read Your Mind was co-written by Bob Dylan. I can hear hints of Don’t Think Twice in the melody, gentler Positively 4th Street lyrical jabs and overall tone and mood that’s very current Dylan. But it’s still all about Willie’s glorious voice. Lovely stuff.

Dylan Revisited podcast episode 11: Dont Look Back Revisit DA Pennebaker’s groundbreaking film about Bob Dylan's 1965 UK tour featuring an extraordinary cast of characters. Listen now at the links below 👇🎧

Those are just a few connections between Conrad and Dylan that I spotted while reading Victory. And of course, the writer's portrait appears on the back cover of Desire. Do you know of any other Conrad/Dylan links?

The best example of this is the phrase “on a painted ship on a painted sea”. This must be an ironic nod to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, whose becalmed voyage is described: “As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean”

Like Bob, Conrad references the bible regularly, though that's not unusual for an early modern writer. Joseph also enjoys plenty of "Love and Theft", making direct references to other works of literature throughout the novel.

In a passage at the start of Part III, Heyst is compared to "that first ancestor" who began "naming the animals". A few years after Desire, Dylan will record the song, Man Gave Names to All the Animals for his 1979 album, Slow Train Coming.

The young woman who runs off with the enigmatic Swede, Heyst, is named Magadelen, though he calls her Lena for most of the story. The song preceding Black Diamond Bay on Desire is Romance in Durango, which features a character named Magdalena. 🖌️ Nathanael Roney

I recently read Victory by Joseph Conrad, the novel that inspired the name of Bob Dylan’s song, Black Diamond Bay. Along with the setting and the presence of a volcano – that erupts in the song but remains just a smouldering presence in the book – here are some other connections. 🧵

Keeping good company with Gil, Marvin, Florence and Fleetwood @harbourrecords.bsky.social

Suddenly wondering why I put July 62 in my book - but none of the songs from those two April sessions made it onto the album, so I guess I didn't count them as part of the "Recorded" dates.

Released on this day in 1963, the album that made Bob Dylan a star. Also the king and queen of album covers.

In a record shop and came across two Bob Dylan albums that I referenced in my introduction to Busy Being Born, so I had to pick them up. Which one should I play first?

What do you think of Desire? Too flawed to be great or a unique classic? Let me know in the replies...

Ultimately, Desire is a cohesive, eminently listenable record with a distinct style, exemplified by Rivera’s violin. She was astonished at how her parts were pushed up in the mix, giving her a prominence rare for an accompanying musician on a Dylan record. 📷 Ken Regan