Robert Shelton (critic)
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Robert Shelton, born Robert Shapiro (June 28, 1926,
Shelton helped to launch the career of a then-unknown 20-year-old
Biography
Shelton was born in Chicago in 1926 under the name Robert Shapiro, the son of Joseph and Hannah Shapiro, Russian Jewish immigrants. His father, a research chemist, was born in
For a decade (1958–1968), Shelton reviewed music, in particular
Shelton spent 20 years writing and rewriting his Dylan biography, No Direction Home, The Life and Music of Bob Dylan which was finally published in 1986, after years of arguments with publishers about the style and length of the work. Shelton's intention from the outset was to write a serious cultural study, not a showbiz biography; as a result, he later said his life's work had been "abridged over troubled waters". The title is taken from the lyric of Dylan's hit single, "Like a Rolling Stone". The same title, No Direction Home, was used by Martin Scorsese for his 2005 documentary film about Dylan's career from the beginning to his motorcycle crash in 1966. Other books by Shelton include Electric Muse: The Story Of Folk Into Rock and The Face of Folk Music. An updated edition of this book, The Electric Muse Revisited, with new material by Robin Denselow, one of the original quartet of contributors, is scheduled for publication by Omnibus Press in May 2021. The folk music charity Square Roots Productions was midwife to the project.
In 1969, Shelton moved to the United Kingdom, living in Hampstead and Sydenham, and then (from 1982) in the South Coast town of Brighton where he edited the Arts page of the Brighton Evening Argus[4] and then wrote, mostly about films, for a number of other publications up to his death. In 1996, Shelton's papers, and his collection of books, records and research material were donated to the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool.[5]
Books
- No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 1986, Da Capo Press reprint 2003, ISBN 0-306-81287-8.
- No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan: Revised and Updated Edition, 2011, Omnibus Press, ISBN 9781849389112A new edition, with some 20,000 words of Shelton's original text restored, published in 2011 to mark Dylan's seventieth birthday.
- Bob Dylan: No Direction Home. Revised Illustrated Edition and with a New Foreword and Afterword by Elizabeth Thomson. 2021 Palazzo Editions UK, Sterling US/Canada, Hardie Grant Australia, Flammarion France, Pangea,Czech Republic
Sources
- ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 31 - Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era. [Part 1]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries. Track 2.
- ^ "Folk Music Heard on 12-Hour Show".
- ^ ISBN 978-0062366689.
- ^ Obituary by Karl Dallas in the Independent 14 December 1995
- ^ Strachan, Rob (January 1997). "New Archive Collection". Popular Music Journal. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
External links
- Introduction to The Mitchell Trio Song Book, 1964
- Robert Shelton with music critic Linda Solomon in 1964
- Robert Shelton on the Kingston Trio
- Rock Book Show interview with Liz Thomson, Co-Editor of Shelton's "No Direction Home" updated re-issue
- The Robert Shelton Archive at the Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool
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