Song Poet at Work: Gregory’s Close Read

Between retreat and reinvention, Minstrel Boy: The Metamorphoses of Bob Dylan charts 1967–1990 with both scalpel and compass. As the second volume in Chris Gregory’s reverse-ordered Picasso of Song trilogy, it presents a 200,000-word, song-by-song inquiry—released and unreleased tracks alike—that privileges ambiguity without sacrificing clarity.

Structured as Retreat (The Basement Tapes, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline), Return (a meticulous mid-’70s deep dive, crowned by Blood on the Tracks), and Rebirth (the conversion years and their aftermath), the book marries close reading to performance history with clean, accessible prose. Gregory—longtime advocate of Dylan as modern “song poet” and host of 100+ From the Pen of Chris Gregory podcasts—delivers a study both panoramic and precise. Essential.

Publishes October 8; pre-order via chris@chrisgregory.org and amazon.co.uk; amazon.com pre-order forthcoming.