Bob Dylan arrived in Greenwich Village in January, 1961, joining a vibrant musical world from which he emerged as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

Through songs and stories, Elijah Wald brings audiences into that world, tracing Dylan’s progress as he met and traded songs with Woody Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Eric Von Schmidt, Jean Ritchie, and less familiar figures like Paul Clayton, who provided the song he rewrote as “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

An expert guitarist, singer, and raconteur, Elijah Wald is also a writer and historian whose book, Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties, is the basis for the hit movie A Complete Unknown. He grew up on the folk scene and has been close with many of the people featured in this program, hanging out with Elliott, performing with Von Schmidt, and becoming particularly close with Van Ronk, whose couch served both Dylan and Elijah as a bed over many nights (though not the same nights). Elijah also co-authored Dave’s memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, which inspired the Coen Brothers’ movie, Inside Llewyn Davis.

This program ranges from old folk songs (“The Cuckoo,” “Nottamun Town”) to obscure early Dylan compositions (“The Old Man,” “If I had to Do It All Over Again”) and familiar masterpieces (“Masters of War,” “Mr. Tambourine Man”), tied together with stories about the Village scene, the musicians, the ever-changing parade of characters and times, and Dylan’s evolution from a raw folk and blues singer into a mature artist who became the voice of a generation.