A new map of Dylan’s shifting terrain is almost here. In October 2025, literary and cultural commentator Chris Gregory releases Minstrel Boy: The Metamorphoses of Bob Dylan — Volume Two of his ambitious Picasso of Song trilogy. Framed by Leonard Cohen’s tag for Dylan as the “Picasso of Song,” Gregory dives into the long middle stretch of 1967–1990, when the artist stepped back, roared back, and then changed course yet again.
Gregory charts this arc in three movements. Retreat traces the post-’66 withdrawal and the country-fired introspection of 1967–1973. Return captures the creative ignition of 1974–1978, with landmark records and tours retooling what a Dylan show could be. Rebirth follows 1979–1990, when spiritual conversion triggered a new vocabulary and another unexpected pivot. The analyses braid textual detail with vivid stage reportage, and the prose is both welcoming and rigorous—ironic humour included. Expect a deft conversation between sources as high and low as William Blake, the King James Bible, and gospel, alongside folk, blues, country, and rock and roll, showing how Dylan keeps reinventing both the page and the stage.
Minstrel Boy continues a trilogy written in reverse chronological order. It follows Determined to Stand: The Reinvention of Bob Dylan, a book praised for its “intellectual necromancing” (Splice Today), its “richly atmospheric” live accounts and comprehensive song readings (Bilingual Culture), and its sweep from myth to Shakespeare and Blake (Louder than War). Volume Three, in progress, will rewind to the early years to complete what aims to be a definitive study.
Beyond the page, Gregory is a novelist and performing poet whose site, From the Pen of Chris Gregory, has drawn more than 100,000 visits with essays on hundreds of Dylan songs. His podcast, Bob Dylan: A Headful of Ideas—nearly 80 episodes and over 10,000 downloads—streams on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, Buzzsprout and more, and is frequently listed by Feedspot, Player FM and Million Podcasts among the top Dylan shows. His other titles include Be Seeing You: Decoding the Prisoner, Star Trek: Parallel Narratives, and Who Could Ask For More: Reclaiming The Beatles.
Circle the month. When October 2025 arrives, Minstrel Boy will open the door to Dylan’s retreat, return, and rebirth—rendered with scholarly clarity, musical feel, and a fan’s open heart.
