From folk troubadour to electric jester to ever-touring elder statesman of rock ‘n’ roll, Bob Dylan and his storied artistic career have filled books, movies and varying levels of philosophical discussions for years.
Friday evening, Dylan is bringing his music to Gainesville. It will be the fourth time in his career that he has made a pit-stop in The Gator Nation.
“He’s the voice of a generation,” said Kyle Calhoun, chairman of Student Government Productions, which organized the show.
In July, Calhoun was looking for an act appropriate for a Friday before a home game, a show that would bring generations together.
At first considering country acts, he caught wind of Dylan’s plans for a college tour.
After contacting Dylan’s representatives and learning that they were interested, Calhoun realized the opportunity this would create.
“It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said.
Dylan, a native of Duluth, Minn., began his musical career as a folk singer, modeling his persona after Woody Guthrie and penning topical songs that were eventually popularized by Peter, Paul and Mary, The Byrds and Joan Baez.
At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, in Newport, R.I., Dylan famously brought an electric band to back him, simultaneously alienating his folk-purist fan base and revolutionizing the worth of songwriting in rock ‘n’ roll.
Since then, his legend has loomed larger than almost any other story in rock. Dylan has toured incessantly and released eight studio albums since the early 1990s.
The fall tours coincide with the release of a two-disc set of demos done for music publishers in the early 1960s, “The Witmark Demos,” and “Bob Dylan – The Original Mono Recordings,” a box set of his first eight albums in their original mono sound.
Dylan and his band will perform at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
