1960s: The Classic Years
Birth of a legend
1960: Heading for New York City
1960: Listens to and quickly learns to play the music of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Jack Elliot, Jesse Fuller, and others. His first own songs often are based on melodies mostly of Guthrie songs.
1961: Visits his idol Woody Guthrie (in New Jersey hospital suffering of Huntington’s chorea) several times during his first year in New York. Plays Woody’s songs and his own for him.
1961: Records demo tapes in East Orange, first Dylan recordings where he’s playing guitar and harmonica (later released on bootleg "East Orange Tapes")
1961: Performs in Greenwich Village’s folk clubs, such as the "Gaslight", where the classic bootleg "The Gaslight Tapes" have been recorded. First songs written: "Song To Woody" and "Talkin’ New York"
1961: Several songs recorded at Bonnie Beecher’s apartment shortly after finishing the sessions for his debut album. Bootleg released as the "Minneapolis Hotel Tapes".
1962: Selftitled debut album released, it contains mostly traditionals and only sells about 5.000 copies in the first year.
1962: Influenced by his girlfriend Suze Rotolo (photographed with Dylan on his second album "The Freewheelin" in 1963) and folksinger Pete Seeger, Dylan writes his first "protest songs", "Let Me Die In My Footsteps", "Blowin In The Wind" and "The Death Of Emmett Till".
1962: Albert Grossman, "the man who made Bob Dylan", signs a 7-year management contract. Bob legally changes his last Name to Dylan.
1963: Release of "The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan", Dylan’s early masterpiece. In some parts Dylan’s separation from Suze (who left for Italy to study art) is being reflected, such as in "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right".
1964: First TV show appearance ("The Steve Allen Show")
1964: Meets later wife Sara Lowndes for the first time
1964: Introduced to The Beatles by Al Aronowitz
1964: Newport Folk Festival: Dylan performs his first songs with an electric backing band and shocks his folk fans
1965: D.A. Pennebaker films England-Tour ("Don’t look back")
1965: First studio session with electric backing band for "Bringing It All Back Home" album
1966: Final concert of E-Tour at London’s Royal Albert Hall
1967: Records songs with The Band in the basement of their Woodstock home "The Big Pink"
1967: Motorcycle accident in Woodstock
1968: Dylan’s father Abraham dies
1969: Dylan goes Country and records several songs with Johnny Cash in Nashville, due to a lack of performance quality only one poor version of "Girth From The North Country" is released officially on "Nashville Skyline".
1969: Dylan family moves away from Woodstock when hippie crowds gather for the largest music festival ever.
1969: First popular bootleg record: The Great White Wonder
1969: First concert in three years at the Isle of Wight Festival