Author Elijah Wald's Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the Sixties is an in-depth look at folk music history, its peak in the early 1960s, and Dylan's decision to use electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
The book outlines Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan's histories leading up to the Newport event. Wald ably details the Newport Folk Festival and its performers. It was a cool and hip event, bringing together knowledgeable fans, authentic artists, and new performers eager to keep the music alive. Readers will delight in the many mentions of folk songs and singers.
A folk historian and performer, Seeger saw music as a link from the past to the present. Music could bring about change for the better. His commitment to sharing music on a global scale was unmatched.
Dylan, an apt pupil, shared Seeger and folk music's vision. But his songs, revelatory in their ability to convey emotion and truth, quickly moved him beyond Seeger's world.
Newport was the perfect place for Dylan to break free of folk music and its conventions.
He didn't want to be packaged and sold. The drama of playing electric was his way of making that point. Folk purists felt betrayed. Still, other music fans lauded the rebellion, which they felt was rock music's reason for being.
While the performance may have split the 1960s, Wald does a masterful job putting together the pieces of Seeger, Dylan, and the Newport Folk Festival.
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