Bob Dylan: About Man and God and Law

No regrets, Coyote. And we really mean that.

What better way to get into the depths of peerless artists Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, how they intersect, and how they work then by speaking with David Yaffe, author of Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown and Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. David is an esteemed and eminently creative music critic and scholar, a Professor of Humanities at Syracuse University, and his new substack Trouble Man: Musings of David Yaffe is a wonderful, wistful way to journey through pop music and pop culture with a true maven and storytelling. Check it out!

If you haven’t stayed up for hours talking bout music, your favorites songs and artists, you haven't lived as a music fan. Have a taste of that with David, the second guest in an incredible line-up of music writers and thinkers who will join us this season.

Purchase About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan wherever books are sold and visit www.mangodlaw.com for information on upcoming events, show notes, and more.

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We are going electric with Bob Dylan and Professor Kathryn Lofton.

Few pop culture moments have been analyzed more closely than Bob Dylan "going electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. We ask what is all means for American religion, race, and music with our special guest, Kathryn Lofton.

Kathryn is the Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies, Professor of History and Divinity, and FAS Dean of Humanities at Yale University. She has written extensively about capitalism, popular culture, and the secular, from her first book, Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon (2011) to the book Consuming Religion (2017), parsing the relationship between religion and consumer capitalism from the Kardashian family to Goldman Sachs. Her article on Dylan going electric in the Journal of Popular Music Studies knocked us off our feet. Enjoy this wide-ranging conversation about some of our most favorite topics in rock music, the life of the spirit, and more.

Check out the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan wherever fine books are sold, and learn about related projects at mangodlaw.com.

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Much of what we know about the gods of rock comes from their music. But it is the rock star interview, pioneered by the rock bible Rolling Stone magazine as named after Dylan’s own song, where testaments of rock and roll were given. Kind of like an oral tradition to the sacred texts of the songs, kind of a new testament to the old, explaining the gaps, coloring the personal details, humanizing the gods.

This has been rock journalist Sylvie Simmons' unique role in the rock and roll mythology for 45 years. We talk here a great deal about Leonard Cohen, his intersection with Dylan, how Cohen and Dylan work, how rock’s mythmakers play, and what all of this might mean from a very personal lens framed by a truly thoughtful, knowledgeable rock and roll pro joining us by the good old-fashioned landline from San Francisco. It's a wonderful conversation.

Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 3 of Bob Dylan: About Man and God and Law, the podcast that inspired the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan. The book is on sale right now wherever books are sold.

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We are still living on Tulsa time, reflecting back on the World of Bob Dylan conference in Oklahoma at the beginning of June in a world gone wrong when Bob Dylan gets it all wrong. The set-up of these four stories of Dylan going off the path actually leads us back to where this podcast began three years ago. The destination for Dylan has always been salvation. Four paths, four windows, four doorways frame Dylan wrestling with salvation, bargaining for salvation, and somehow, walking himself back from taking a lethal dose.

Check out the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan wherever fine books are sold, and learn about related projects at mangodlaw.com.

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are still living on Tulsa time, reflecting back on the World of Bob Dylan conference in Tulsa at the beginning of June. This time we're talking about how Dylan plays inside and outside the lines of authenticity, roots, race, and the never-ending tour of the popular music hustle.

Our very special guest is music impresario Mark Montgomery French, whose encyclopedic knowledge of music, framing of cultural questions, humor, and creativity will keep you riveted. This is a conversation that takes on tough, essential questions about race and music. Mark is just the person to go deep with those questions with honesty, wisdom, and grace.

San Francisco-native Mark Montgomery French is an award-winning film composer with the group Spiky Blimp, Creative Director and Co-Producer of Glide Church’s Sunday Online Celebration, host of the podcast “All Your Favorite Music is (Probably)...”, staff writer at PopMatters, and the manager of critically acclaimed queer country band Secret Emchy Society and classic power-punk band The Furys. He’s also a music historian noted for his talk All Your Favorite Music is (Probably) Black, the series 28 Days, 28 Black Music Documentaries, and Uppity Music—Your Guide to Unsung Black Departure Albums. He was formerly the co-leader of the ’90s progressive funk band Endangered Species. Find out more about Mark's work at www.mmfrench.com.

Check out the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan wherever fine books are sold, and learn about related projects at mangodlaw.com.

We are proud to be part of the Pantheon Podcasts Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices