The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964
| The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 |
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| Compilation album by Bob Dylan | |||||
| Released | October 19, 2010 | ||||
| Recorded | 1962–1964 | ||||
| Genre | Folk | ||||
| Length | 138:28 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Producer | Stan Berkowitz and Jeff Rosen | ||||
| Bob Dylan chronology | |||||
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| Bob Dylan Bootleg Series chronology | |||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The Guardian |  |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork Media | 9.1/10 |
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 is an album of demo recordings Bob Dylan made for his first two publishing companies, Leeds Music and M. Witmark & Sons, from 1962 to 1964.
The album, released on October 19, 2010, features 47 tracks with Dylan accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano. The recordings were only available as bootlegs until the 1991 release of The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991, which included three of the demos. A fourth demo, a version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", was included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack, which came out in 2005. The remaining tracks on The Witmark Demos were officially released for the first time in 2010. While Dylan recorded subsequent versions of most of the songs, the album features 15 that were produced exclusively as demos and had never been heard before except as bootlegs.
The Witmark Demos was released in two formats: a double CD and a 4-LP set. Both releases featured a booklet with an account on the album's significance by historian Colin Escott, along with photos of Dylan from the period when the demos were recorded. The album peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in its first week, becoming Dylan's 20th album to debut in the top 20.
Dylan recorded his debut album, Bob Dylan, for Columbia Records in November 1961, when he was 20. The album included two original tracks, "Song to Woody" and "Talkin' New York", the first songs he had written after arriving in New York City's Greenwich Village in January 1961. In addition, Dylan recorded one other original during the Columbia sessions, "Man on the Street", which did not appear on the album.
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