‘Ain’t gonna go to Hell for anybody’
Dylan’s Christian years
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.205Keywords:
biography, Bob Dylan, Christian period, Saved, Shot of Love, Slow Train Coming, conversionAbstract
This piece evaluates Dylan’s Christian period, between 1979 and 1981. It considers the biographical context of the Christian material, and its relations to Dylan’s other work. While describing the circumstances of Dylan’s conversion, and the studio recordings and their critical reception, the piece seeks above all to give special prominence to the consistent intensity and shifting nuances of the live performances of the period. This focus allows us to see how this often denigrated or dismissed phase of Dylan’s career in fact can be said to rival any other in the ways it draws on Dylan’s creative powers of self-renewal.
References
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Björner, O. 2012. ‘Still On The Road’: Recording Sessions and Concerts. http://www.bjorner.com/still.html.
Dylan, B. 2004. Lyrics 1962–2001. London: Simon & Schuster.
Gray, M. 2000. Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan III. London: Continuum.
Heylin, C. 1996. Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments. London: Music Sales/Schirmer.
—2011. Behind the Shades. London: Faber.
Marcus, G. 2010. Bob Dylan: Writings 1968–2010. New York: Public Affairs.
Masciotra, D. 2011. ‘“There’s Spiritual Warfare”: The Vow and Vocation of Bob Dylan’, http://thecresset.org/2011/Lent/Masciotra_1.2011.html.
Ricks, C. 2005. Dylan’s Visions of Sin. London: Ecco.
Rosenbaum, R. 2001 (1979). ‘Born-again Bob: Four Theories’. In The Bob Dylan Companion, ed. Elizabeth Thomson and David Gutman, 233–37. New York: Da Capo.
Scobie, S. 2004. Alias Bob Dylan: Revisited. Calgary: Red Deer Press.
Sounes, H. 2001. Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. New York: Grove Press.
Wilentz, S. 2010. Bob Dylan in America. London: Bodley Head.
Williams, P. 1996 (1979). ‘Dylan—What Happened?’. In Bob Dylan: Watching the River Flow, 63–133. London: Omnibus.
Published
2014-05-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Hughes, J. (2014). ‘Ain’t gonna go to Hell for anybody’: Dylan’s Christian years. Popular Music History, 8(2), 205-221. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.205
