The next installment of Bob Dylan’s bootleg series has been announced: Volume 18: Through the Open Window 1956-1963.
It will be released on October 31 and documents a transitional period in Dylan’s life in which he moved from his hometown in Minnesota to New York City at the age of 19. The collection contains recordings from local coffee houses, friends’ apartments, and other informal gatherings, plus studio outtakes and live shows. It concludes with a previously unreleased full recording of Dylan’s performance at Carnegie Hall on October 26, 1963.
READ MORE: 20 Different Takes on Bob Dylan’s Most-Covered Song
“Of that time and those places, this collection is just a fragment,” author and historian Sean Wilentz writes in the set’s 125-page liner notes essay. “Even so, as an aural record of an artist becoming himself — or in Dylan’s case, his first of many artistic selves — the collection aims to collapse time and space, not as a nostalgic reverie but as a living connection between the past and the present, the old and the new, which are never as distinct as we might think.”
A complete track listing for the 8-disc (139 tracks) deluxe box can be viewed below. Ahead of the release, an outtake called “Rocks and Gravel (Solid Road)” is also available below.
Bob Dylan, ‘Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through the Open Window 1956-1963,’ Track Listing:
Disc 1
1. Let the Good Times Roll
December 24, 1956 – Terlinde Music Shop, St. Paul, MN
2. I Got a New Girl
May 1959 – Home of Ric Kangas, Hibbing, MN
3. San Francisco Bay Blues
4. Jesus Christ
September 1960 – Home of Bob Dylan, Minneapolis, MN
5. East Virginia Blues
6. K.C. Moan
7. Hard Travelin’
Late 1960 – Madison, WI
8. Pastures of Plenty
9. Remember Me
February 1961 – Home of Bob and Sid Gleason, East Orange, NJ
10. Song to Woody
11. Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
September 6, 1961 – The Gaslight Cafe, NYC
12. Ain’t No Grave
Summer 1961 – Home of Mell and Lillian Bailey, NYC
13. I Ain’t Got No Home
May 13, 1961 – Coffman Theater, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
14. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
15. Devilish Mary
May 1961 – Minneapolis, MN
16. Introduction: Riverside Church
17. Handsome Molly
July 29, 1961 – Saturday of Folk Music (WRVR-FM), Riverside Church, NYC
18. Introduction: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
19. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
20. The Girl I Left Behind
21. Introduction: Pretty Boy Floyd
22. Pretty Boy Floyd
23. Railroading on the Great Divide
October 1, 1961 – Gerdes Folk City, NYC
24. Introduction: Fixin’ to Die
25. Fixin’ to Die
1961 – Folklore Center, NYC
26. I’ll Fly Away – Take 1 (Alternate Take)*
September 29, 1961 – Carolyn Hester sessions, Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, NYC
Disc 2
1. Introduction: In the Pines
2. In the Pines
3. Gospel Plow
4. Introduction: Young But Daily Growing
5. Young But Daily Growing
6. Man on the Street
7. This Land Is Your Land*
8. Pretty Polly
November 4, 1961 – Carnegie Chapter Hall, NYC
9. Man of Constant Sorrow – Rehearsal (Alternate Take, Nov 20, 1961)
10. HOUSE CARPENTER – Take 1 (Outtake, Nov 22, 1961)*
11. YOU’RE NO GOOD – Take 2 with Take 6 Insert (Alternate Take, Nov 20, 1961)
12. HE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE – Take 2 (Outtake, Nov 20, 1961)*
13. Ramblin’ Round – Take 2 (Outtake, Nov 22, 1961)*
Bob Dylan sessions Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, NYC
14. Story: East Orange, New Jersey
15. Stealin’
16. Po’ Lazarus
17. Dink’s Song*
18. I Was Young When I Left Home*
19. In the Evening
20. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
21. Cocaine
December 22, 1961 – Home of Bonnie Beecher, Minneapolis, MN
Disc 3
1. The Death of Emmett Till
2. Conversation: Folksinger’s Choice, 1
3. Roll On, John*
4. Conversation: Folksinger’s Choice, 2
5. Hard Times in New York Town
Broadcast March 11, 1962 – Folksinger’s Choice, WBAI-FM Studios, NYC
6. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
March 1962 – Home of Mell and Lillian Bailey, NYC
7. Ballad of Donald White
September 20, 1962 – Home of Mac and Eve McKenzie, NYC
8. Midnight Special – Rehearsals
9. Midnight Special – Take 17 (Alternate Take)
February 2, 1962 – The Midnight Special sessions, Webster Hall, NYC
10. Wichita (Album Version)*
11. It’s Dangerous (Album Version)*
March 2, 1962 – Three Kings and the Queen and Kings and the Queen, Volume Two sessions , Cue Recording Studios, NYC
<12. Honey , Just Allow Me One More Chance**
<13. Talkin’ New York**
14.Corrina , Corrina**Deep Ellum Blues***Introduction: Blowin’ in the Wind*Blowin’ in the Wind**April*16*, *1962*Gerdes Folk City*NYC**Rambling, Gambling Willie-Take*3*(Outtake)***April*24*, *1962*Freewheelin’ sessions*Studio A*Columbia Recording Studios*NYC**Paths of Victory*Train A-Travelin*(Album Version)*October-December*1962-Broadside Office-NYC**Hiram Hubbard**Quit Your Low Down Ways**Let Me Die in My Footsteps**Ramblin’ on My Mind**Blue Yodel No.*8*(Mule Skinner Blues)**July*2*, *1962-The Finjan-Montreal-Canada*
Disc
*5*
*The Ballad of the Gliding Swan*
*Broadcast*
*January*
*13*, *1963*
*“Madhouse on Castle Street,” BBC-TV Studios-London-England*
*Only a Hobo*(Album Version)*
*John Brown*(Album Version)*
*February*
*1963-Broadside Ballads-Vol.*
*1 sessions-Folkways Studio-NYC*
*All Over You**
*February*
*8*, *1963-NYC*
*Oxford Town*(Demo)*
*March*
*1963-Witmark Studio-NYC*
*Bob Dylan’s Dream*
**Introduction:
**Walls
**of
**Red
**Wing**
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci





