Bob Dylan is the focus in this episode where I interviewed Steven Jenkins, Director of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, OK.
Bob Dylan has donated voluminous archives from his career as a singer-songwriter from the early 1960s to the present (he is currently on his acclaimed Rough and Rowdy Ways tour at the time of writing).
The Bob Dylan Center has a number of longstanding exhibitions which dive deep into Dylan’s greatest songs such as Like A Rolling Stone, Tangled Up In Blue, Jokerman, and Not Dark Yet.
On the walls surrounding these are posters, interactive displays and audio recordings in chronological order over seven decades of creativity.
There are also changing exhibitions and the one I saw was the excellent How Many Roads looking at Dylan’s involvement with the Civil Rights Movement from 1961-64.
With its extensive archives section, the Bob Dylan Center also serves Dylanologists and other music scholars looking to analyse documents, recordings and even hand-written song lyrics in depth.
There is considerable appeal however for even casual visitors with excellent immersive video content of Dylan songs, interviews and documentary material as well as high quality audio resources using headsets. There is also a fantastic collection of memorabilia such as jackets Dylan wore, typewriters, guitars, even letters from other great singer-songwriters such as George Harrison and Johnny Cash.
You get to play producer in a simulated recording studio for mixes of songs like I Want You, Like A Rolling Stone and Knocking On Heaven's Door.
Nearby is a jukebox donated by acclaimed singer-songwriter Elvis Costello loaded with Original Dylan songs and covers.
And one of the real highlights is an immersive video room charting his whole career and featuring documentary footage, interview, lyric sheets and live performances.