It's interesting, it's informative – and it's a bit of a plod. Copland might not have been an influence on the young Dylan but he was in the air – on the airwaves – and he forms an interesting precedent in the way that his early "left-wing Popular Front politics" gave way to widespread acceptance "among the general public as well as concertgoers". Since the influence of Woody Guthrie is well known and celebrated by Dylan himself, Wilentz explores a pervasive but less explicit connection with Aaron Copland. As Wilentz points out, while it's often said that Dylan "owns the 1960s", he is "largely a product of the 1940s and 1950s".This isan understatment, or at least compresses the time span at Dylan's disposal:the key to his genius has always been the "ability to write and sing in more than one era at once". So Wilentz was formed, in part, by the artist who was formed by – and, in turn, made – the history the professor teaches and writes. Wilentz was 13 when he saw Dylan – 23 at the time – play at the Philharmonic.
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