Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks

OK so I've often said that there's a piece of this album in every song I've written since the first time I heard it.  What do I mean by that? Let me go ahead and unpack it before I get sued. 

The truth is I mean a LOT OF THINGS. This album got me interested in jangly, acoustic guitar playing and open D tuning. It made me want to be a folk musician and single-handedly started my migration away from writing "Rock" songs. It taught me that it's possible to use songs to tell rich, detailed stories with nuanced characters and intriguing plotlines and made me strive to bring that to my writing. 

But It also means that in some ways the stories and songs have stayed with me and they show up in my writing in unexpected ways; ways that most of the time only I really know. For example, if my song mentions a hotel, I might be imagining that its the same hotel they stop into in "Simple Twist of Fate." If it mentions a bar, it might be the bar from "Tangled Up in Blue"  I don't do it on purpose. It just is what it is. 

So that is what I mean. It's an amazing album that's had a huge influence on me, as I'm sure it has on hundreds of other songwriters through the decades. I most certainly do not mean that I've intenionally copied lyrics, or melody lines from this album... Just so we're clear. haha.  

Till next time, 
          Nicholas

And btw: Though this is the album I mention most, its one of about 15 albums that I would consider to be MAJOR influences in my development as a writer... The complete list will have to wait for another day...