West Saugerties’ Unsung Musical History

  |  December 11, 2014
big pink w saug

Big Pink, West Saugerties

From our friends at the Saugerties Times: A glimpse into the hamlet of West Saugerties’ illustrious relationship with music and the arts down through the ages. Northern Ulster and Greene County’s artistic history is pretty well-known around these parts. Thomas Cole and Frederic Church are mentioned time and again in reference to the Hudson River School, and Palenville is the original artists’ retreat. But what’s not quite as well known the musical soundtrack that accompanied that artistic vision. From the Saugerties Bard who traveled back roads of the hamlet to the Big Pink Basement on Parnassus Lane, where The Band’s debut album Music from the Big Pink and portions of The Basement Tapes were record by Bob Dylan and The Band, West Saugerties has seen its fair share of musicians.

Speaking of the Basement Tapes, if you’ve got three and a half minutes, watch this time-lapse video called From the Village to the Basement. The short film chronicle’s Bob Dylan and The Band’s road trip from Manhattan to West Saugerties to record The Basement Tapes created by Legacy Recordings’ Tom Mullen. Mullen told Mashable.com: “It’s as if Jeff Bridges is next to you telling you the story on a road trip, like if you’re with your parents and they’re telling you a story.”

Read On, Reader...