Bob Dylan and Paul Simon at 85!

Few songwriters have had the impact on American culture that can be attributed to Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," and in the process changed American song forever. Paul Simon, the first songwriter to be awarded the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize — the highest American award that celebrates the writers of American song — initially found his unique voice under Dylan’s influence but soon created a distinctive musical style that was (and continues to be) endlessly inventive; with lyrics that are smart, witty, tender, and profoundly insightful; and arrangements that are thrillingly adventurous, incorporating a broad mix of American and international sounds. This semester we celebrate these two incomparable singer-songwriters, putting some special emphasis on mid-career and later albums in order to fully appreciate the span of their remarkable 60-plus years of recording.

Wed, 2/4-4/22               7:15 - 9:05 PM ET                        11 Sessions