Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan

I have read this book 3 times. It seems that each time I read it, I find out something new. I am a huge Bob Dylan fan and I love learning things about him. Howard Sounes really did his research for this book and it shows. I recommend this book to any Dylan fan.

The enigmatic, mysterious Bob Dylan: who can really know this guy? Sounes does an excellent job of fleshing out the man behind the music, probably about as good a job as anyone could have done. He balances the personal life of Bob (at least what can be known of his personal life) with his artistic life, and presents a full-bodied, complete picture of the man and the legend. Dylan is a man of contradictions (a born-again Christian who remained sexually promiscuous, a person who would treat people insensitively and then feel badly about it but not enough to apologize, a protest singer who was reluctant to get involved in causes), but that's what makes him Dylan. Although familiar with Dylan's music over the years, plus reading many articles and interviews with him, this is the first book-length biography I have read about him, so I may not have the perspective that others do who have compared this bio to others and have found it lacking, but speaking for myself, I found it fascinating.

The story of Dylan's life is so extraordinary that it would be hard to write a bad book about it, I would have thought, and this one is superb. It is full of new information and, at the same time, there isn't a bunch of self-opinionated twaddle about what the author thinks Dylan's lyrics mean. Thank goodness. There is nothing more boring than a guy who wants to tell you what he thinks Dylan lyrics mean. Instead of cod-analysis, we get the story of Dylan's life in extraordinary detail - the whole deal from growing up in Minnesota to the most recent tours: his women; his best friends; his family; the recording sessions; the shows. It's a real easy book to read and at the end you feel you know a whole lot more about this guy, though he is so complex you get the idea that the whole story might never be unravelled. I guess that's why he's so interesting. Anyway, terrific stuff. Five stars for sure.

Exactly when and where did Bob first drop ...? What did Bob think of Sgt. Pepper when he first heard it? What did Jerry Lee Lewis say to Bob when Bob tried to record a track with him? What was Bob's reaction to John Lennon's murder? When & where did Bob marry his 2nd wife, after she bore him his 6th kid? Did Bob really try to join the Dead as a full-time member after being depressed about his career? Is the cost of Bob's second divorce in the early 90s the real reason for the Never-Ending-Tour? What was the main criteria for the flea-bag motels Bob stayed in during the Never-Ending-Tour? Much, much more in this great new book out by Howard Sounes, who apparently spent years getting people to talk. Sure, if you're a Dylan freak (the kind that used to break into his house in Woodstock in the late 60s... you've read it all before. But this book should appeal to everyone, and I guarantee there are things in here you've never heard before. And it's current through the end of 2000, including the death & funeral of Bob's mother. Check it out.