This is the first time I’m writing about music this year.

I think sometimes it might be just an album that I listen to…in other cases it will be an artist who I haven’t spent a lot of time with.

Goodbye, Spotify algorithm for the year - this little experiment is going to mess with my 2025 Spotify Wrapped.

That’s part of the reason it’s been six weeks here before I’ve done a music write-up.

I was nervous about messing up my Spotify algorithm.

But that’s OK. I’ve come to grips with that fact, because I think I’ll spend the year enjoying a variety of music that I’m interested in and I’ll avoid the ‘Daily Drive’-type repetitive compilations that haven’t changed much over the past few years and have a negative influence on the Wrapped anyway. Maybe this approach will mix things up better in the long run.

Anyway, another part of the reason I haven’t written yet was, ever since watching ‘A Complete Unknown,’ I was giving Bob Dylan a thorough listen.

A few years ago, when I was trying to catch up on albums I’d missed over the years, I had listened to two Bob Dylan albums - ‘Another Side of Bob Dylan’ and ‘Blonde on Blonde.’

This time around I went with other familiar album titles (meaning they fell under the category of ‘I should probably listen to these’) / albums that were part of the years covered in the movie.

So I listened to ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,’ ‘Highway 61 Revisited,’ and ‘Blood On The Tracks.’

I liked them.

That probably shouldn’t be too surprising - many of the musical artists I like, Billy Joel prime among them, were influenced by Dylan. There’s probably a base-level like of Dylan music within me.

But I liked it on its own - I was thinking as I listened that if I had been coming up as a music listener in the sixties I would have been a Dylan fan.

I kind of especially liked ‘Blood On The Tracks’ - and bonus treat in the song ‘Idiot Wind’ with the lyric “They said I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy.”

I know that lyric from Hootie and the Blowfish! (See? Dylan influences everyone.)

I understand that I’m not breaking any news here. Oh, Bob Dylan is a good songwriter? Do tell.

But there’s something to be said for coming late to something that you enjoy and having an entire six-decade backlog to pick and choose from.

I’m probably done writing about Dylan in 2025 (maybe? [Oh, wait, I still might read that book.]), but I’m not done listening to Bob Dylan in 2025.

Whenever I have some in between time, or a long car ride, I’ll throw on an album. I had asked my brother if he had a favorite, which I meant less along the lines of ‘pick a favorite child’ and more along the lines of ‘is there something I should make sure I don’t miss?’ He said it varies depending on the day/season, etc.

So that’s just further proof there’s plenty for me to enjoy.

I’m looking forward to diving into it, seeing how things have evolved over time.

And I guess I’m kind of interested to see how the 2025 Spotify Wrapped turns out.