Born in Duluth, MN, Bob Dylan (b. Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) was raised in Hibbing, MN. As a child he learned how to play guitar and harmonica, forming a rock & roll band called the Golden Chords when he was in high school. Following his graduation in 1959, he began studying art at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He soon became actively involved in the local Dinkytown folk music circuit, fraternizing with local folk enthusiasts. During his Dinkytown days Zimmerman began introducing himself as "Bob Dylan" after poet Dylan Thomas.

Bob Dylan's contributions to the music industry cannot be compressed into a single page much less a short paragraph. His songwriting is often held as his highest accomplishment, blending textural visual images, a stream-of-consciousness lyrical attack, and time-honored folk traditions to create a sound and sense that strike listeners as somehow new and ancient simultaneously. Dylan has shown steadfast devotion to traditions of American song, from folk and country/blues to rock 'n' roll and rockabilly, to Gaelic balladry, even jazz, swing and Broadway.

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No Direction Home, the seventh volume of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series doubles as the soundtrack to "No Direction Home", Martin Scorsese's feature-length documentary covering Dylan's career from its beginnings to 1966. The 2 Disc set is assembled from a variety of sources, including home recordings, publishing demos, alternate studio takes, and live recordings, with the first disc devoted to early acoustic recordings and the second to electric music.

"...the electric music on disc two sounds as bracing and brilliant and surprising as it did in the '60s, while the acoustic folk on disc one sounds vibrant, pure, and alive. After all these years, that's a hard accomplishment to pull off, and to the credit of everybody involved in this terrific release, they've been able to make even the most familiar Dylan tunes feel new again."

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide