Professor Wilentz honored for Dylan album liner notes

By: David Campbell
   Princeton University history Professor Sean Wilentz has won a Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for his liner notes accompanying a live Bob Dylan two-compact-disc set released last year.
   Professor Wilentz, the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton, was recognized for a historical and critical essay he wrote as part of a 52-page booklet accompanying "Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall — The Bootleg Series Volume 6," which was released in spring 2004.
   He is director of the Program in American Studies at Princeton and is the historian-in-residence on Mr. Dylan’s official Web site.
   Professor Wilentz has been a Princeton faculty member since 1979 and specializes in early national and Jacksonian history. He was 13 years old when he attended the 1964 Halloween performance at Philharmonic Hall, and he infuses his essay with vivid memories of that night.
   The essay was nominated for a Grammy Award last year.
   The ASCAP Deems Taylor Award recognizes excellence in print, broadcast and new-media coverage of music. The awards were established in 1967 in honor of composer and music critic Deems Taylor, who died in 1966.
   ASCAP announced the awards in October. Honorees this year include Mr. Dylan himself, for the first installment of his autobiography, "Bob Dylan: Chronicles, Volume One," published by Simon & Schuster.
   The documentary "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," directed and produced by Martin Scorsese, received an award in the television broadcast category.
   The winners will be honored at a reception Dec. 15 at The Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.