A secret archive of Bob Dylan memorabilia has found a new home for it’s permanent display, reports have today told (March 2).
The vast collection of items relating to the songwriter – including more than 6,000 letters, notebooks, handwritten lyrics, instruments and much more – will find residence in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Brady Arts District which also houses the Woody Guthrie Center.
According to The New York Times, the University of Tulsa and The George Kaiser Family Foundation paid an estimated $15-20 million for the full collection. On arrival in Oklahoma, the process of cataloguing the items will take two years.
According to a press release, some of the items include a notebook filled with lyrics circa ‘Blood on the Tracks’, Dylan’s wallet from 1966 containing Johnny Cash’s address and phone number, as well as a business card from Otis Redding, a leather jacket Dylan wore at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival appearance and lots more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-0aECsy98
The material will be displayed alongside “a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence, a cache of Native American art and the papers of Guthrie,” the Times reports.
In a recent press release, Dylan said of the announcement: “I’m glad that my archives, which have been collected all these years, have finally found a home and are to be included with the works of Woody Guthrie and especially alongside all the valuable artifacts from the Native American Nations. To me it makes a lot of sense and it’s a great honor.”
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Last month, Bob Dylan announced he was working on another album of cover ‘standards’, according to reports (February 15).
Last year saw Dylan release his 36th studio album ‘Shadows In The Night’, which featured jazz and pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra.
Billboard reports that Dylan is now back recording at Hollywood’s Capitol Studios, where Sinatra himself recorded.
Engineer Al Schmitt confirmed that Dylan is working on the follow-up to ‘Shadows In The Night’, although he didn’t confirm whether the songs would again be Sinatra covers.
“It’s going along great,” Schmitt said. “[Dylan] sounds great. His mood in the studio is fabulous. We’re having a good time. We’re like two old shoes together now, we’re so comfortable with one another now.”
GettySchmitt added of Dylan: “He’s extraordinarily smart and he’s so aware of everything that’s going on, so he knows what’s happening at every moment.”
‘Shadows In The Night’ was Dylan’s first album since ‘Tempest’ in 2012.
Dylan toured the UK in support of ‘Shadows In The Night’ in 2015, playing a number of dates at London Royal Albert Hall, Manchester O2 Apollo and Cardiff Motorpoint Arena last October.