Bob Dylan has accepted an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
As Rolling Stone reports, it marks the first time the legendary singer-songwriter has been given such an honour from a US college or university since 1970.
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In a statement, Dylan said: “Thank you, Berklee College of Music, for bestowing on me this prestigious honour. What a pleasant surprise.
“Who knows what path my career might have taken if I’d been fortunate enough to learn from some of the great musicians who taught at Berklee. It’s something to think about.”
Berklee explained that it was recognising Dylan’s “extraordinary influence on modern music” as well as his “lifelong commitment to creative exploration” by awarding him the honorary Doctor of Music degree.
Jim Lucchese, Berklee President, explained: “This is an incredible moment for this institution.
“Bob Dylan’s music has shaped how the world hears itself. He’s an artist who has never stopped evolving, who keeps chasing truth through sound and language. That’s the spirit we try to cultivate here every day.”
Lucchese added: “Honouring him feels like a reaffirmation of the creative impulse that built this place.”
Matt Glaser, Berklee’s American Roots Music Program artistic director, commented: “Bob Dylan has spent a lifetime learning, absorbing, and transforming every American song tradition, and Berklee strives to teach all the music that Dylan loves.
“His deep immersion in African American blues parallels much of Berklee’s curriculum, which is rooted in the distinctly American variants of the music of the African diaspora.”
He went on: “As anyone who has read his books or listened to his hundred-plus radio programs can attest, Dylan is also a great teacher and learner. He shows us how to keep learning about music and the arts our whole lives through, and to embrace it all as one thing.
“I love the anecdote Dylan himself tells: he once went up to Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot in Greenwich Village, introduced himself, and said, ‘I play folk music down the street’. Monk replied, ‘We all play folk music’.”
Dylan is not set to attend any ceremony or event at Berklee, but the college is hosting a concert in his honour today (Wednesday November 5). The tribute show will celebrate the musician’s “immeasurable impact on popular culture with performances from students, faculty, alumni, and visiting artists that highlight his deep knowledge and nuanced appreciation of roots and Americana music”. Find more information here.
In 1959, Dylan dropped out of the University Of Minnesota after just one semester on campus, and barely attended any classes. The icon was awarded an honorary degree from the University Of St. Andrews in 2004.
However, Dylan hasn’t received such an honour from an American school since he accepted one from the Princeton University in New Jersey in 1970. He attended the ceremony along with David Crosby, with the event taking place while cicadas were swarming the campus. This inspired his 1970 track ‘Day Of The Locusts’ from his album ‘New Morning’.
Dylan is due to embark on a run of UK and Ireland shows this week for his ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ tour. Find any remaining tickets here.
Over the summer, it was reported that Dylan had been working on new music with “members of his band” in Albany, New York. He recently released an extensive box set, ‘Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963’.
