Bob Dylan's earliest demo recording is set to be auctioned, stirring excitement among music fans and collectors alike. The singer, whose biopic A Complete Unknown is making waves and is nominated for multiple Academy Awards, recorded the original tape live at New York's Gaslight Café in 1961.
The reel-to-reel tape, featuring six early tracks—including "Song to Woody" and "He Was a Friend of Mine"—is estimated to fetch over $20,000 during the auction facilitated by Boston-based RR Auction. Terri Thal, Dylan’s first manager and author of My Greenwich Village: Dave, Bob and Me, initially produced the tape to showcase Dylan’s burgeoning talent to nightclub managers.
Thal recounted, "The manager wasn’t interested in a new, unknown performer. He wanted Dave [Van Ronk, folk musician], which was fine, but I had gone there primarily to try to get a booking for Bob.” Bobby Livingston, Executive Vice President at RR Auction, expressed the significance of the tape, describing it as "a rare look before Bob Dylan was a household name."
The auction includes over 70 Dylan-related lots, highlighting other fascinating items such as a Hohner Marine Band harmonica, estimated at over $8,000, played by Dylan during his transformative 1966 world tour—famous for the moment when he confronted hecklers with the now-legendary line: "Play it f*ing loud!"
Among the most intriguing artworks being sold is one of Dylan’s mixed-media paintings from 2008, titled Cassandra, which portrays a partly nude woman and is valued at $60,000. This reflects Dylan’s multifaceted career as both musician and artist. Another piece, titled The Times They Are A-Changin’, is by Giovanni DeCunto, priced at $50,000.
The 1975 Martin D-41 acoustic guitar once owned by Dylan's road manager, Bob Neuwirth, is set to fetch at least $40,000. Neuwirth played this guitar during the Rolling Thunder tour, documenting Dylan’s influence during his most experimental phase.
Other items include memorabilia like backstage photographs of Dylan with Johnny Cash, each telling their own story of the artists' camaraderie—as reflected by Cash’s autobiography, where he mentions, "I had been following Bob's music since 'I Walk the Line.'"
The auction, which will conclude on March 12, promises to reveal much about Dylan’s impactful legacy. With A Complete Unknown—directed by James Mangold and starring Timothée Chalamet as Dylan—nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the timing of this auction couldn’t be more fitting.
This sale showcases Dylan's early path to becoming one of the most influential musicians of our time, where the convergence of his recorded history and visual art highlights the significance of his artistic contributions. Collectors and fans alike will be eager to witness how these pieces of music history fare on the auction block.