Dylan to Release Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through The Open Window

Bob Dylan will release a sprawling archival collection chronicling his formative years on October 31, when Columbia Legacy issues Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through The Open Window, 1956–1963, a multiformat set that traces the singer-songwriter from his teenage Minnesota performances to a landmark Carnegie Hall concert in New York City. The deluxe 8-CD box contains 139 tracks, 48 of which the label says have never been released, and will also be available as a 2-CD and 4-LP highlights edition.

The package, described in the official announcement as a document of Dylan’s emergence and maturation, gathers home recordings, club sets, studio outtakes, radio broadcasts, festival appearances and informal gatherings captured by friends and contemporaries. It opens with a 1956 performance at Terlinde Music Shop in St. Paul and culminates in a complete, previously unreleased recording of Dylan’s October 26, 1963 Carnegie Hall concert, which the collection presents as a turning point at the end of his early rise.

A preview release accompanying the announcement is a 1962 outtake from the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan sessions titled Rocks and Gravel. The label and several reports identify it as an...