Bob Dylan’s early years in New York are set to be rediscovered in unprecedented detail with the release of The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963, out now through Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. This new addition to Dylan’s long-running archival project captures his transformation from a young folk enthusiast in Minnesota into the voice of a generation in Greenwich Village.
The deluxe 8CD box set spans 139 tracks, including 48 previously unheard performances, rare radio recordings, and never-before-released studio outtakes, all meticulously remastered from new tape sources. The set culminates with Dylan’s full 1963 Carnegie Hall concert, presented for the first time in its entirety and mixed from the original reels. A 2CD and 4LP highlights edition featuring 42 tracks is also available.
Through The Open Window charts Dylan’s musical and lyrical evolution across an astonishingly short seven-year period. From his teenage recordings at a St Paul music shop in 1956 to the prophetic urgency of “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” the collection paints an intimate picture of an artist coming into his own.
These recordings document Dylan’s transition from small-town performer to the defining songwriter of the 20th century. The journey begins in Minnesota, moves through coffeehouses and living rooms in New Jersey and New York, and ends at Carnegie Hall-an ascent that marked the end of Dylan’s folk era and the start of his artistic mythos.
“Of that time and those places, this collection is just a fragment,” writes historian Sean Wilentz in the accompanying 125-page book. “As an aural record of an artist becoming himself, this is a living connection between past and present.”
Dylan’s influences from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Lead Belly echo throughout Through The Open Window. Listeners will hear early renditions of “Song To Woody,” “Blowin’ In The Wind,” and “With God On Our Side,” performed in intimate settings and captured with raw immediacy.
These recordings showcase how Dylan’s social conscience developed alongside his musical sophistication. His performances at the 1963 March on Washington and the SNCC Voter Registration Rally in Greenwood, Mississippi-both included in the box-reflect the role he played in the Civil Rights era’s cultural soundtrack.
By the time Dylan reached Carnegie Hall on 26 October 1963, his transformation from Guthrie disciple to folk prophet was complete. The concert, now restored in full, includes definitive early versions of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “Boots Of Spanish Leather,” and “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll.”
Since The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 arrived in 1991, these collections have redefined how archival music can be presented, revealing Dylan’s creative process in astonishing depth. Vol. 18 continues this tradition, offering fans and historians alike a rare opportunity to trace his formative years through pristine, never-circulated sources.
For Australian fans, Through The Open Window arrives as renewed interest in Dylan follows James Mangold’s Oscar-nominated biopic A Complete Unknown, which explored Dylan’s early 1960s rise.
THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 18: THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW, 1956-1963
(8CD Deluxe Edition)
DISC 1: Let The Good Times Roll, I Got A New Girl, San Francisco Bay Blues, Jesus Christ, East Virginia Blues, K.C. Moan, Hard Travelin’, Pastures Of Plenty, Remember Me, Song To Woody, Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, Ain’t No Grave, I Ain’t Got No Home, Death Don’t Have No Mercy, Devilish Mary, Handsome Molly, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, The Girl I Left Behind, Pretty Boy Floyd, Railroading On The Great Divide, Fixin’ To Die, I’ll Fly Away (Take 1)
DISC 2: In The Pines, Gospel Plow, Young But Daily Growing, Man On The Street, This Land Is Your Land, Pretty Polly, Man Of Constant Sorrow (Rehearsal), House Carpenter, You’re No Good, He Was A Friend Of Mine, Ramblin’ Round, Stealin’, Po’ Lazarus, Dink’s Song, I Was Young When I Left Home, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, Cocaine
DISC 3: The Death Of Emmett Till, Folksinger’s Choice (Conversation), Roll On, John, Hard Times In New York Town, Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues, Ballad Of Donald White, Midnight Special, Wichita, It’s Dangerous, Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance, Talkin’ New York, Corrina, Corrina, Deep Ellum Blues, Blowin’ In The Wind, Rambling, Gambling Willie, Lonesome Whistle, Rocks And Gravel, Paths Of Victory, Train A-Travelin’, Hiram Hubbard, Quit Your Low Down Ways, Let Me Die In My Footsteps, Ramblin’ On My Mind, Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues)
DISC 4: Baby, Please Don’t Go, Worried Blues, Baby, I’m In The Mood For You, Bob Dylan’s Blues, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, This Land Is Your Land (The Last Verses), Long Time Gone, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Barbara Allen, The Cuckoo, That’s All Right, Mixed-Up Confusion, Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Kingsport Town, Whatcha Gonna Do?, Hero Blues, I Shall Be Free
DISC 5: The Ballad Of The Gliding Swan, Only A Hobo, John Brown, All Over You, Oxford Town, Bob Dylan’s Dream, Walls Of Red Wing, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Dusty Old Fairgrounds, Pretty Peggy-O, Who Killed Davey Moore?, Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie, James Alley Blues, I Rode Out One Morning, House Of The Rising Sun, Talkin’ World War III Blues, Masters Of War, Girl From The North Country
DISC 6: Only A Pawn In Their Game, Blowin’ In The Wind, Eternal Circle, Liverpool Gal, West Memphis, North Country Blues, With God On Our Side, Playboys And Playgirls, Boots Of Spanish Leather, Seven Curses, Farewell, Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag, Moonshiner, Troubled And I Don’t Know Why, When The Ship Comes In, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, The Times They Are A-Changin’, One Too Many Mornings, Key To The Highway
DISC 7: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Who Killed Davey Moore?, Boots Of Spanish Leather, Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues, Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Blowin’ In The Wind, Percy’s Song, Seven Curses, Walls Of Red Wing, North Country Blues, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
DISC 8: Talkin’ World War III Blues, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, With God On Our Side, Only A Pawn In Their Game, Masters Of War, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, When The Ship Comes In
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