Fall 2025

A Complete Unknown Bob Dylan’s Time on the Monterey Peninsula B Y M I CHA E L CHAT F I E LD O n Saturday, May 18, 1963, a 22-year-old singer/songwriter from Hibbing, Minnesota, took the stage at the Monterey County Fairgrounds’ Pattee Arena. Born Robert Zimmerman, the slight young man had recently changed his stage name to Bob Dylan (many believe he did so to honor poet Dylan Thomas, but, obviously not a fan, he refuted that assumption, telling a New York Times reporter in 1966, “Dylan Thomas’ poetry is for people that aren’t really satisfied in their bed–for people who dig masculine romance,” and “I’ve done more for Dylan Thomas than he’s ever done for me.”). This appearance at the Monterey Folk Festival was Dylan’s first West Coast gig, and he wasn’t particularly well known at that point. Headliners, including Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary,The Andrews Sisters, Barbara Dane and TheWeavers, were all seasoned acts the audience was familiar with. It’s well known that Dylan was fond of inventing stories about his past, and his statements in the festival program are prime examples. One example: claiming he toured with a carnival at 14 playing piano and guitar, he traveled east when he heardWoody Guthrie’s “Dust Bowl Ballads” to meet that legendary songsmith. In this period, he also claimed to have had a troubled childhood, to have been a teenage runaway circus roustabout, prostitute and heroin addict. None of that was true. He led a fairly stable early life in Minnesota. The nascent artist’s first Columbia Records release,“Bob Dylan,” had dropped the year before, and his second, the seminal “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” wouldn’t hit the shelves for another 10 days. He performed several tunes, including “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and “Master of War.”When he performed “With God on Our Side,” he was joined at the microphone by Joan Baez, an already successful folk singer, and a woman who would soon become his lover. According to Barbara Dane, “He went over very badly.” Record executive Jac Holzman said of Dylan’s show, “He didn’t play very long. I think people were laughing at him.” Little did that audience realize that this skinny, bedraggled guy would soon become one of the most recognized and revered musicians of the 20th century. Not everyone was laughing, however. Time Magazine said, “He has something unique to say, and he says it in songs of 110 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 5 Photo: Alamy Stock Photo