Grateful Dead Publicist, Music Historian to Speak at Ohio Wesleyan
Grateful Dead publicist and music historian Dennis McNally will speak Sept. 30 at Ohio Wesleyan University. (Photo courtesy of Dennis McNally)
DELAWARE, Ohio – For Dennis McNally, the Sixties never ended. The Grateful Dead publicist and music historian sees the era’s influence in the cultural questions of today, and he will discuss that enduring impact when he speaks Sept. 30 at Ohio Wesleyan University.
McNally’s presentation, “Why the Sixties Happened – And Still Are” will begin at 4:10 p.m. in Benes Room A of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. The event is sponsored by the OWU’s Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs, which brings speakers to campus to discuss national affairs and public policy.
For McNally, Ph.D., the music of the Sixties went beyond pop culture and was affected significantly by the two largest domestic issues of the time: the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. He explores that connection in his third book, “On Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom,” scheduled for publication Oct. 14.
“On Highway 61” explores the long history of how young white audiences have, throughout history, listened to the music of African-American performers, and the impact of this cultural exchange on societal race relations. The Sixties music of Bob Dylan was the culmination of this trend, McNally says, with Dylan challenging racism and segregation through songs such as “The Death of Emmett Till,” “Oxford Town,” and “Hurricane.”
Of the book, Bill Payne, co-founder of the rock band Little Feat, states: “Dennis McNally has unraveled a tapestry of historical and societal collisions that inspired, drove, and conjured – through the seemingly unlikely strands of Thoreau, Twain, Louis Armstrong, Ellington, W.C. Handy, Coltrane, Seeger, and Dylan – a distinctly American conversation in perpetual pursuit of cultural freedom; an unflinching legacy with reverberations felt throughout the world.”
McNally’s other books include “Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation and America” and “A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead,” which hit the New York Times best seller list.
To learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Arneson Institute, visit https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-politics-government/arneson-institute/. To read more about Dennis McNally and his work, visit www.dennismcnally.com.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.