Together Through Life: A Personal Journey With the Music of Bob Dylan

by Chris Morris

Veteran journalist and critic Chris Morris looks back at his intense half-century-long relationship with the music of Bob Dylan, viewing the role the singer-songwriter’s work has played in his own life. A candid album-by-album exploration of Dylan’s catalog through 2016’s “Fallen Angels” examines the powerful personal impact of the musician’s art. In 2013, Morris – the former music editor of The Hollywood Reporter and a longtime senior writer at Billboard – hit a psychological roadblock as he worked on his book Los Dream in Blue (ultimately published in 2015 by the University of Texas Press). Hoping to get his writing flowing again, he turned to the music of Bob Dylan, whose album catalog had recently been collected in a boxed-set edition, and published his thoughts as posts on the blog site Tumblr. It quickly became apparent to the writer and to his readers that the posts were something more than a critical reconsideration of Dylan’s music. Morris writes. “The pieces were not about Dylan and they were not about me; they were about Dylan and me. I found myself reconsidering my past through these records. Where was I when this came out? How old was I? Where was I living? Who was I with? Was I in love? Was I happy? Miserable? Crazy? Was I high? Where was I working? What was my state of mind? How did the music affect me? In some cases the pieces were coolly measured (though never impersonal); in others I found myself plunging into places within me that I hadn’t visited for years. I was retrieving a portion of my life, which I had spent almost all of in the company of Bob Dylan’s music.” Here, Dylan’s music is explored album by album, from his 1962 debut as a folksinger to his 2015-16 explorations of the Classic American songbook; the creative highs and lows of his entire 37-title discography are examined. But Morris’ take on Dylan’s music doesn’t merely weigh the quality of the work – it reveals how a gifted artist’s creations have the power to engage, incite, alter, and even rescue a listener over the course of a lifetime. Together Through Life occupies a unique space in the vast bibliography of Bob Dylan books.

Genres: Music

161 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2016

Reviews

[Craig Werner]

Mostly (maybe entirely) for died-in-the-wool Dylan fans, especially those of about Morris's age; like me, he's in his seventies (judging by internal evidence). The book consists mostly of short essays he wrote a few years back when he decided to listen to and comment on each of Dylan's officially released albums at the dizzying pace of one-a-day. Obviously, that requires a ton of preliminary listening, as does getting the most out of reading the book. Sometimes Morris focuses on memories of his earlier encounters, sometimes on reviews he wrote as a working journalist, sometimes on the way the albums reflect his romantic relationships (which seem to mostly have been a Dylanesque mess). While he loves Dylan, he doesn't hesitate to declare the intermittent disasters--many of the live albums, most of the 1980s--just what they were.

For the most part, I share Morris's evaluations of the music; there were only a few essays that inspire me to revisit or reconsider the music; the biggest exception is his admiration for Dylan's late series of Frank Sinatra-centered albums, Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels, Triplicate. That's partly because he added the essays on those, which hadn't been released when he wrote the original essays--and gave himself more room.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, though it also made me think about why it doesn't stand up to Ann Powers' somewhat similar engagement with Joni Mitchell (Travelin'). Part of it's format--Powers could stretch out when needed, gloss over music that didn't grab her. But more fundamentally, Powers engages the ways in which her listening leads her to rethink her life. For Morris, Dylan's music amplifies what he's already feeling, but I kept thinking the music offers more.

[Garrett Cash]

This book was written by a buddy of mine, and being that I also went through and listened to all of Dylan's catalog this year it seemed like a fun way to see it through the eyes of someone who saw it unfold in real time. Morris is an honest writer, and his passion for life and music is evident in these pages. This book exemplifies that the old phrase of music being the soundtrack of your life is more than a cliché.

[Simon Freeman]

There are many books about Dylan and his music. The difference with this book is that it follows a music journalists life from 'Freewheelin' in 1963 through to 2016's 'Fallen Angels' and how the events in his life met with his reviews and feelings around Bob's studio records. A series of beautiful articles and a serious piece of art amongst the morass of published work on Dylan's massive output. Together Through Life indeed.

[David Maeda]

Did we need another book about Dylan?

Yes. I love the author's approach of not writing a book analyzing Dylan's song as a music critic. Rather he effectively captures what Dylan's music meant to him over the years. The 'oh mercy' essay is wonderful.

[Danielle]

Great book to make your own notes on how Dylan's presence intertwined with your life.