There have been countless Bob Dylan books written by scholars. They are very detailed and researched exhaustively including extensive bibliographies. Bob Dylan in The Big Apple: Troubadour Tales of New York is written by Keith Miles, a Dylanologist but not a scholar. Am I a Dylanologist? Keith presented a paper The Unknown Muse- Robert Graves and the Tregunter Road Encounter at the 2019 Dylan conference in Tulsa.
I did not meet Keith when I was in Tulsa, but I "met" him on Twitter where I have Tweeted about 9,000 times. I was quite intrigued by the book as he announced it there. Ironically, it is easier to get the print version of it in the United Kingdom than it is in the USA. Amazon will not officially release it in the USA until May. I received my copy as an e-book on the Amazon Kindle.
The book does not claim to be exhaustive, but the author details Dylan's activities in Greenwich Village during the early 1960s. Some of his appearances in the 1970s and beyond are mentioned. I was disappointed that Dylan's appearance at the Woody Guthrie Tributed in early1968 was not mentioned. It was Dylan's first appearance since the motorcycle accident of July 1966. Likewise, the author didn't consider the "Bobfest" of October 1992.
I highly recommend this book for casual and serious Dylan fans, especially those who live in NYC. Dylan scholars would be highly critical of the lack of completeness. However, there are many more fans than scholars. Keith reports that the book has sold very well in its first days after its release.
If you have read this journal entry, I suggest you listen to this song:
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