About |
Michael Gray is a writer, critic, broadcaster and performer of one-man-show-type talks at colleges, arts centres, theatres, festivals and live music venues on both sides of the Atlantic . His specialist subjects are Bob Dylan's work, rock'n'roll, Blind Willie McTell's life and work, some other pre-war blues, and travel.
He is the author of "SONG & DANCE MAN: The Art Of Bob Dylan" (1972), "THE ART OF BOB DYLAN: Song & Dance Man" (1981), "SONG & DANCE MAN III: The Art Of Bob Dylan" (1999/2000), "THE BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA" (2006; paperback 2008 in the UK & US) and "HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell" (UK hardback Bloomsbury, 2007. UK paperback Bloomsbury 2008, US hardback Chicago Review Press, 2009).
He is also the author of a biography of Frank Zappa (1985, 1992, 1993, 2003 & 2007), co-author of "THE ELVIS ATLAS: A Journey Through Elvis Presley's America" (1996), and co-editor of "ALL ACROSS THE TELEGRAPH: A Bob Dylan Handbook" (1987).
His first book, SONG & DANCE MAN, was the first published study of Bob Dylan's work and has long been recognised as a pioneering, classic text. He has delivered over 140 one-man-show-style talks, on "Bob Dylan & the History of Rock'n'Roll", "Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues", "Searching for Blind Willie McTell" and other subjects. 2011 sees the debut of his event "When Elvis Was Thin: the Genius of Rock'n'Roll".
His work has been published in Rolling Stone, The Times, Uncut, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, the Literary Review, New Humanist, Melody Maker, NME, the Independent on Sunday, the Observer, the Sunday Telegraph and many other newspapers and magazines.
Michael Gray has performed in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Germany, Austria, Canada and the United States, including at the Bath Literature Festival, the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland OH, the New School in New York City and at the University of Texas in Austin TX. His research papers for his biography "HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: In Search of Blind Willie McTell" have been acquired by Georgia Southern University in Statesboro GA, where McTell grew up.