The Paradox of Commitment: Jakob Dylan’s Philosophy in Will It Grow

Last fall I was contacted by Nancy Legge, Professor of Communications and Rhetorical Studies at Idaho State University, she asked if she could use a photo I took of Jakob Dylan for a research article she was writing, of course I agreed. Well Nancy has finished her incredibly in-depth analysis of Jacob’s song Will it Grow and you can read her article here. The article resides on the website http://relevantrhetoric.com/ which is a scholarly journal that analyzes contemporary rhetoric. Now she may be a professor but this is a labor of love for Nancy who is a big fan of Mr. Dylan and her insight into this man and his music are evident.

The website describes her article like this:

A rhetorical analysis of the ideas and arguments in Jakob Dylan’s song, “Will It Grow.” In a fractured narrative about farming, Dylan addresses philosophical issues about the nature of commitment and the role of fate vs. free will. The engaged audience supplies warrants about perseverance and resolve, thereby providing ways to manage the paradoxes.

You can see Jakob performing this incredible song at the ACL Festival, September 26, 2008eat song below:

Here are a few more photos from that fine evening last July at Denver’s Botanical Gardens.

Jakob’s Axes

Jacob’s Gear

For a complete set of photos from this show see:

http://gonzoshots.com/archives/1260

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 1:03 pm. It is filed under Live music reviews, News Flash and tagged with Denver, Jakob Dylan, Nancy Legge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.