Short Synopsis
One of the music world's pre-eminent critics takes a fresh and much-needed look at the day Dylan "went electric" at the Newport Folk Festival, timed to coincide with the event's fiftieth anniversary.

Full Synopsis
On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at Newport Folk Festival, backed by an electric band, and roared into his new rock hit, "Like a Rolling Stone." The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock, booing, and scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world—Dylan's declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation—and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music.

In Dylan Goes Electric!, Elijah Wald explores the cultural, political, and historical context of this seminal event that embodies the transformative decade that was the sixties. Wald delves deep into the folk revival, the rise of rock, and the tensions between traditional and groundbreaking music to provide new insights into Dylan's artistic evolution, his special affinity to blues, his complex relationship to the folk establishment and his sometime mentor Pete Seeger, and the ways he reshaped popular music forever.

"Read by award- winning performer Sean Runnette, Dylan Goes Electric is insightful, thought-provoking, and highly recommended especially for modern music connoisseurs." ---Midwest Book Review

"Wald contextualizes the deeply divisive event in illuminating detail . . . a major contribution to modern musical history." ---Booklist Starred Review

“Wald’s personal knowledge seems encyclopedic . . . An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism.” ---Kirkus

“Anyone interested in Dylan, folk music, or rock and roll will adore this volume." ---Library Journal

“It is a great work of scholarship, brimming with insight – among the best music books I have ever read.” ---The Guardian

"Splendid, colorful work of musicology and cultural history . . . Mr. Wald is a superb analyst of the events he describes." ---New York Times

Booklist Review