Item #SKB-16889 Handbill announcing a series of 1961 concerts at Gerdes Folk City in Greenwich Village, one of which featured then unknown Bob Dylan as the opening act for The Greenbriar Boys. Bob DYLAN.

Handbill announcing a series of 1961 concerts at Gerdes Folk City in Greenwich Village, one of which featured then unknown Bob Dylan as the opening act for The Greenbriar Boys.

NY: Gerdes Folk City, 1961.

Item #SKB-16889

4to. The first in the series of concerts was a long stint by Lonnie Johnson, Victoria Spivey and David Gude playing September 12 through the 24th. From September 26 through October 8th the Greenbriar Boys were playing with Bob Dylan, then entirely unknown and having just arrived in NYC, as their opening act. This was Dylan's second professional gig (his first one was four months earlier opening for John Lee Hooker at the same venue). Famously, the opening night performance was attended by noted critic Robert Shelton of The New York Times who went to review The Greenbriar Boys but instead was so captivated by Dylan that he write a glowing review that raved about Dylan as a new talent calling him "one of the most distinctive stylists to play a Manhattan cabaret in months" noting that "there is no doubt that he is bursting at the seams with talent." Shelton ends the review by stating: "Mr. Dylan is vague about his antecedents and birthplace, but it matters less where he has been than where he is going, and that would seem to be straight up." This prophetic review from Shelton had an immediate and profound effect on lifting Dylan from obscurity and jump-starting his career. Light handling, some soiling and a modest sepia stain on back, only a tiny part of the stain visible from the front, presents very nicely overall. The second announcement of any kind for a performance by Bob Dylan---arguably his most important performance as this is the one that launched his career. A highly important, true rarity from ground zero of Dylan's life as an artist.

Price: $6,500.00

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