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Four: This Train (1979 -1993)

In the week before the Nobel Prize-winner's birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa and editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', explores the life, work and influence of one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.

The fourth episode spans the period from Bob Dylan's conversion to Christianity in 1979, after a woman threw a cross onstage, to the release in 1993 of 'World Gone Wrong', the album that revived his career.

Many consider Dylan's conversion as an act of hypocrisy, followed by years of wasted effort to recapture the alchemy of the 1960s. Latham radically contests that idea, suggesting that with 'Gotta Serve Somebody' the endless process of rejection and reinvention that defines Dylan's early career gives ways to studious self-examination as he places his faith first in a Christian god, and then in the musical history that he begins to excavate. Dylan explores gospel music, and his attempt to measure human folly (in 'Foot of Pride') against the hope for a redeemed world.

Dylan begins by confessing his faith, but ends this era by confessing to the fact that the music he makes is steeped in a history of racist violence and exploitation. Dylan then releases two albums of folk covers, addressing his debt to musical history. Looking closely at the songs, and drawing on the Bob Dylan Archive, Latham shows how he decided to serve rather than simply remake this complex musical tradition. Like his religious conversion, this comes as an epiphany, transforming the fading rock star into the archivist and alchemist of popular music who would later win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Producer: Julian May