Bob Dylan, Burning Bright

Rock music is the quintessential art form of youth. By the time they turn forty nearly all rock stars are well past their creative prime, if not entirely burned out. But not Bob Dylan. The exception to many rules, he radically defies this trend as well, having recorded much of his best music since his mid-fifties. Dylan's latest album, Tempest, continues a remarkable string of fresh and original albums dating back to his resurgent Time Out of Mind in 1997. Like that album and the others since (excepting his eccentric 2009 Christmas album), Tempest has a decidedly blues flavor, while dipping into classic American musical styles including Western swing and country-folk balladry. The songs bear inspiration from American musical icons such as Hoagy Carmichael, Muddy Waters, and the Carter Family, proving again that the paradoxical key to achieving artistic timelessness is to be firmly girded in the history of one's art form.