(KINGSTON, N.Y.) – Nobel Prize-winning rock poet Bob Dylan and His Band will perform at the Hutton Brickyards on Friday and Saturday, June 23-24, at 8pm. The shows will be Dylan’s first-ever in Kingston and will mark the inaugural concerts of the city’s new riverfront concert venue.
The Saturday, June 24, show is completely sold out, but tickets are still available for the Friday, June 23, show, and may be purchased in person at the Bardavon Box Office, 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, 845.473.2072; online at www.ticketmaster.com; or by calling 800.745.3000.
On Friday June 23 the Bardavon Box office will close at 3pm and tickets will only be available on site at the Hutton Brickyards, which will only be accessible for non-ticket or non-parking pass holders by parking at the many lots near UPAC in midtown Kingston and taking a free shuttle bus. Shuttles will begin departing from UPAC, 601 Broadway at 5:30 pm. The Hutton Brickyards Venue opens at 6pm and the show starts at 8pm sharp. There is no opening act.
The Hutton Brickyards offers gorgeous river views, plus Hudson Valley food & beverages by Smorgasburg, before, during and after both shows.
Bob Dylan is a winner of multiple Grammy Awards (including Lifetime Achievement), an Oscar, Golden Globe, Pulitzer Prize, and last year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Dylan is also a Kennedy Center Honoree and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minn., to parents Abram and Beatrice Zimmerman. He and his younger brother David were raised in the community of Hibbing, where he graduated from Hibbing High School in 1959. Driven by the influences of early rock stars like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard (whom he used to imitate on the piano at high school dances), the young Dylan formed his own bands, including the Golden Chords, as well as a group he fronted under the pseudonym Elston Gunn. While attending the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he began performing folk and country songs at local cafés, taking the name “Bob Dillon.” (Despite a popular myth to the contrary, the pseudonym was not inspired by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas — whom he later professed to dislike — but by the main character from the popular Western television series Gunsmoke.)
In 1960, Bob dropped out of college and moved to New York, where his idol, the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was hospitalized with a rare hereditary disease of the nervous system. He visited with Guthrie in his hospital room; became a regular in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of Greenwich Village; met a host of other musicians; and began writing songs at an astonishing pace, including “Song to Woody,” a tribute to his ailing hero.
In the fall of 1961, after one of his performances received a rave review in the New York Times, Dylan signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, at which point he legally changed his surname to Dylan. Released early in 1962, “Bob Dylan” contained only two original songs, but showcased Dylan’s gravelly voiced singing style in a number of traditional folk songs and covers of blues songs.
The 1963 release of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” marked Dylan’s emergence as one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American popular music. The album included two of the most memorable 1960s folk songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind” (which later became a huge hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary) and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” His next album, The Times They Are a-Changin’, firmly established Dylan as the definitive songwriter of the 1960s protest movement, a reputation that only increased after he became involved with one of the movement’s established icons, Joan Baez, in 1963.
While his romantic relationship with Baez lasted only two years, it benefited both performers immensely in terms of their music careers — Dylan wrote some of Baez’s best-known material, and Baez introduced him to thousands of fans through her concerts.
By 1964 Dylan was playing 200 concerts annually, but had become tired of his role as the spokesman of his generation.
In 1965, Dylan scandalized many of his folkie fans by recording the half-acoustic, half-electric album Bringing It All Back Home, backed by a nine-piece band. On July 25, 1965, he was famously booed at the Newport Folk Festival where he performed with an electric rock band for the first time. The albums that followed, Highway 61 Revisited (1965) — which included the seminal rock song “Like a Rolling Stone” — and the two-record set Blonde on Blonde (1966) represented Dylan at his most innovative. With his unmistakable voice and unforgettable lyrics, Dylan brought the worlds of music and literature together as no one else had.
Over the course of the next three decades, Dylan continued to reinvent himself. Following a near-fatal motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent almost a year recovering in seclusion. His next two albums, John Wesley Harding (1968) — including “All Along the Watchtower,” later recorded by guitar great Jimi Hendrix — and the unabashedly country-ish Nashville Skyline (1969) were far more mellow than his earlier works. Critics blasted the two-record set Self-Portrait (1970) and “Tarantula,” a long-awaited collection of writings Dylan published in 1971, also met with a poor reception. In later years, critics were proved wrong on both accounts.
In 1973, Dylan had an acting role in “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” a feature film directed by Sam Peckinpah. He also wrote the film’s soundtrack, which became a hit and included the now-classic song, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
In 1974, Dylan began his first full-scale tour since his accident, embarking on a sold-out nationwide tour with his longtime backup band, The Band. An album he recorded with The Band, “Planet Waves,” became his first No. 1 album ever. He followed these successes with the celebrated 1975 album “Blood on the Tracks” and “Desire” (1976), each of which hit No. 1 as well.
Desire included the song “Hurricane,” written by Dylan about the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, then serving life in prison after what many felt was an wrongful conviction of triple homicide in 1967. Dylan was one of many prominent public figures who helped popularize Carter’s cause, leading to a retrial in 1976, when he was again convicted.
After a painful split with his wife, Sara Lowndes — the song “Sara” on Desire was Dylan’s plaintive but unsuccessful attempt to win Lowndes back — Dylan again reinvented himself, recording several albums of original gospel songs. “Slow Train Coming” was a commercial hit, however, and won Dylan his first Grammy Award. The tour and albums that followed were less successful, however, and Dylan moved on. In 1982, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Beginning in the 1980s, Dylan began touring full time, sometimes with fellow legends Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead. Notable albums during this period included Infidels (1983); the five-disc retrospective Biograph (1985); Knocked Out Loaded (1986); and Oh Mercy (1989), which became his best-received album in years. He recorded two albums with the all-star band the Traveling Wilburys, also featuring George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. In 1994, Dylan returned to his folk roots, winning the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for World Gone Wrong.
In 1989, when Dylan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce Springsteen spoke at the ceremony, declaring that “Bob freed the mind the way Elvis freed the body … He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording artist could achieve, and changed the face of rock and roll forever.”
In 1997, Dylan became the first rock star ever to receive Kennedy Center Honors, considered the nation’s highest award for artistic excellence.
Dylan’s 1997 album “Time Out of Mind” proved Bob Dylan wasn’t yet done with his mission, winning three Grammy Awards and producing numerous hits of his own as well as famous cover versions. He continued his vigorous touring schedule, including a memorable performance in 1997 for Pope John Paul II in which he played “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and a 1999 tour with Paul Simon. In 2000, he recorded the single “Things Have Changed” for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas. The song won Dylan a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Dylan then took time out from his music to tell the story of his life. The singer released “Chronicles: Volume One,” the first in a reported three-book memoir series, in fall 2004. Dylan gave his first full interview in 20 years for a documentary released in 2005. Entitled No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, the film was directed by Martin Scorsese.
In 2006, Dylan released the studio album “Modern Times,” which Dylan and His Band rehearsed at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., prior to going into the studio to record. After hitting stores in late August, it reached the top of the album charts the next month. A mixture of blues, country, and folk, the album was praised for its rich sound and imagery. Several critics also remarked the album had a playful, knowing quality. Showing no signs of slowing down, Dylan continued to tour throughout the first decade of the 21st century, and released the studio album “Together Through Life” in April 2009.
In 2010, Dylan released a bootleg album called “The Witmark Demos,” followed by a new boxed set entitled “Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings.” In addition, he exhibited 40 of his original paintings for a solo show at the National Gallery of Denmark. In 2011, he released yet another archival live album, “Bob Dylan in Concert – Brandeis University 1963,” and in September 2012, released his newest studio album, “Tempest,” from which Dylan is expected to play more than a few songs in Kingston.
“Shadows in the Night,” a cover album of pre-rock pop standards, followed in 2015. A year later, Dylan released “Fallen Angels,” his thirty-seventh studio album which featured more classic songs from the pre-rock era. In 2017, he continued to celebrate the classics with his three-disc studio album “Triplicate,” which featured 30 American standards including “Stormy Weather,” “As Time Goes By” and “The Best Is Yet To Come.”
In addition to winning Grammy, Academy, and Golden Globe awards, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2012. On October 13, 2016, the legendary singer-songwriter also received the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first time the honor was bestowed on a musician. He became the first American to receive the honor since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993, and was lauded by the Swedish Academy “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
On June 7, 2017 Dylan released a recording of his Nobel Prize speech, relating his career to the inspiration he has found in both Buddy Holly and world literature including “Moby Dick”, “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Odyssey”.
When he is not making music, Dylan has explored his talents as a visual artist. His paintings appear on the covers of his albums, Self Portrait (1970) and Planet Waves (1974), and he has published six books of his paintings and drawings, as well as exhibited his artwork around the world.
The Bardavon presents this legendary artist at the opening of Kingston’s new summer venue at the Hutton Brickyards. This kick-off event in this new venue is presented by the Bardavon and the historic Hutton Brickyards. Offering great music, gorgeous views and delicious Hudson Valley food & beverages by Smorgasburg, The Hutton Brickyards is located at 200 North St., Kingston N.Y.
Tickets: $125 and $75 (seated General Admission), $55 (standing)
Purchase your tickets in person at: Bardavon Box Office, 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, 845.473.2072 or online at Ticketmaster : 800.745.3000. Please note Ticketmaster fees will apply.