NOVEMBER 20, 1961 – Bob Dylan began recording his first album over two days at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Co-discovered and produced by the legendary CBS associate John Hammond, Dylan’s self-titled debut album was released on March 19, 1962 in the US. Along with a collection of old trad-folk gems, it also contained two originals by the aspiring artist; “Talkin’ New York,” and his homage to his folk-activist hero Woody Guthrie “Song To Woody.” At first, it failed to attract much of an audience outside of a small circle of folk enthusiasts, despite the wave of a recent boon in popularity of traditional Celtic-Anglo/Saxon inspired folk music now termed Americana.
While many periodicals ignored the album entirely, some critics were harshly put off by Dylan’s vocal style, NYC’s Village Voice deemed it an “explosive country blues debut”. At CBS, the LP was quietly referred to as “Hammond’s Folly”.
Dylan met Hammond at a rehearsal session for Carolyn Hester on September 14, 1961, at the apartment shared by Hester and her then-husband, Richard Fariña. Hester had invited Dylan to the session as a harmonica player, and Hammond approved him as a session player after hearing him rehearse, with recommendations from his son, musician John P. Hammond, and from Liam Clancy.
Hammond later told Robert Shelton that he decided to sign Dylan “on the spot,” and invited him to the Columbia offices for a more formal audition recording. No record of that recording has turned up in Columbia’s files, but Hammond, Dylan, and Columbia’s A&R director Mitch Miller have all confirmed that an audition took place. Producer Fred Catero, then a recording engineer for Columbia Records, claims to have the master of that session. It is not the original demo for Columbia, but a session from December 6, 1962, recorded by John Hammond, Sr.
TRACKLIST:
1) You’re No Good (Jesse Fuller)
2) Talkin’ New York
3) In My Time of Dyin’ (traditonal, arranged by Dylan)
4) Man of Constant Sorrow (traditonal, arranged by Dylan)
5) Fixin’ to Die (Bukka White)
6) Pretty Peggy-O (traditonal, arranged by Dylan)
7) Highway 51 (Curtis Jones)
8) Gospel Plow (traditonal, arranged by Dylan)
9) Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (traditonal, arranged by Eric von Schmidt)
10) House of the Risin’ Sun (traditonal, arranged by Dave Van Ronk)
11) Freight Train Blues (John Lair, arranged by Dylan)
12) Song to Woody
13) See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson)