Curtis Jones / 2:52
Musician
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: November 22, 1961
Technical Team
Producer: John Hammond
Sound Engineers: George Knuerr and Pete Dauria
“Highway 51” has a special place in the history of American popular music. The song starts in the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, and ends up in Hurley, Wisconsin, after passing through the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. In other words, this was the route taken by African-Americans during their great migration to the North.
This folk blues song is credited to Curtis Jones, best known for “Lonesome in My Bedroom Blues” and “Tin Pan Alley.” Jones began recording in 1937 but released his first album, Trouble Blues, in 1960 on Bluesville Records. He left the United States in 1962 for Europe, where he died in 1971.
Bob Dylan’s version is the first real piece of folk rock. It demonstrates Dylan’s willingness to reject his categorization as a folksinger and to show that he was raised to the sound of rock ’n’ roll.
Dylan adapts the version of bluesman Tommy McClennan, renamed “New Highway No. 51.” He revisits the words and seeks accuracy in the interpretation. His guitar is tuned once again in an open D to give the blues his aggressive, defiant sound. He demonstrates with this song that he can handle the six strings brilliantly. He pushes his voice, sounding close to Elvis’s intonation in the pure tradition of “Hound Dog.” Only one take was necessary.