In Clinton Heylin’s book “A Life In Stolen Moments, Bob Dylan, Day By Day: 1941-1995,” we find Dylan on the road in 1964, traveling cross-country in a station wagon with Victor Maimudes, Pete Karman, and Paul Clayton.

    They left New York on Feb. 3, and arrived in San Francisco on Feb. 20.

    Along the way they delivered clothes collected in New York for striking mine workers in Virginia, and dropped in on Carl Sandburg in Hendersonville, N.C., who reportedly was “unimpressed by Dylan’s bravura.”

    On to Atlanta, Dylan performs a concert at Emory University, on Feb. 7, and visits his friends, civil rights activists Bernice Johnson and Cordell Reagon the next day.

    On Feb. 9, Heylin writes, “With his head in Mississippi, Dylan sits in the back of the car working on a new song called “Chimes of Freedom.” They stop overnight in Meridian, Mississippi.

    The next day the group pulls into New Orleans for Mardi Gras. On Feb. 12 they head to Tougaloo, Mississippi, and Dylan starts writing another song, inspired by his Mardi Gras experience, “Mr. Tambourine Man.” At Tougaloo College Dylan performs an impromptu concert, and visits with civil rights activists there.

    The rest of this trip would take Dylan, age 22, and his friends to Dealey Plaza in Dallas where President Kennedy had been murdered nearly three months prior. They visit Ludlow, Colo., site of the Ludlow Massacre of 1914 where striking miners and their family members were killed by militiamen, coal company guards and strike breakers.

    On Feb. 15 Dylan premieres his song “Chimes of Freedom” during a concert at the Civic Auditorium in Denver.

    A new four-disc CD, “Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International,”celebrates Bob Dylan’s 50 year recording career as well as Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary. It’s a great collection for a great cause. Proceeds go to Amnesty International.

    Sean Wilentz writes in the liner notes of the CD: “For half a century, Amnesty has pressed to secure the fundamental human rights of the persecuted and imprisoned across the globe, standing for the sanctity of individual conscience above arbitrary authority. Over that same half century, Dylan’s art has explored and expressed the anguish and hope of the modern human condition. Mistrusting worldly authority, Dylan has given sympathetic voice to those whom, in “Chimes of Freedom,” he sings of as “the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse.”

    The CD, featuring 76 Dylan songs recorded by various artists, ranging from 19-year-old Miley Cyrus who performs “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go,” to a 92-year-old Pete Seeger singing “Forever Young,” debuted at No. 11 on Billboard. A condensed, two-CD version available at Starbucks debuted at No. 38. You also can download individual tracks. Visit music.amnestyusa.org.

    Just about all musical genres appear on the album. An interesting statistic that emerged right after the CD became available is that Cyrus’ song quickly had about 10,000 downloads, while Bob Dylan’s original studio recording of “Chimes of Freedom,” which the CD ends with, saw more than 13,000 downloads.

    Personal favorites on the CD include: Patti Smith “Drifter’s Escape”; Tom Morello The Nightwatchman “Blind Willie McTell”; Bettye Lavette “Most Of The Time”; Diana Krall “Simple Twist Of Fate”; Mariachi El Bronx “Love Sick”; Silversun Pickups “Not Dark Yet”; My Morning Jacket “You’re A Big Girl Now”; Mark Knopfler “Restless Farewell”; Queens Of The Stone Age “Outlaw Blues”; Lenny Kravitz “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”; Steve Earl and Lucia Micarelli “One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)”; Angelique Kidjo “Lay, Lady, Lay”; The Belle Brigade “No Time To Think”; Oren Lavie “4th Time Around”; Sussan Deyhim “All I Really Want To Do”; Adele “Make You Feel My Love (live)”; Neil Finn with Pajama Club “She Belongs To Me”; Carly Simon “Just Like A Woman”; Flogging Molly “The Times They Are A-Changin'”; Bad Religion “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”; My Chemical Romance “Desolation Row (live)”; Cage The Elephant “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”; Band Of Skulls “It Ain’t Me Babe”; Seal and Jeff Beck “Like A Rolling Stone”; Dave Matthews Band “All Along The Watchtower (live)” and Lucinda Williams “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven.”

    Also, Amnesty International’s Secret Policeman’s Ball happens today. For the first time the comedy and music festival will be held in the United States, in New York’s Radio City Music Hall with Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand, Sarah Silverman, Fred Armisen, Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, and many more.

    It will broadcast live beginning at 6 p.m. and commercial free on EPIX and streamed online at EpixHD.com and via EPIX apps on Xbox 360 and Roku. Television providers including charter.net/epix and verizon.com/fiostvonline will also offer a live stream of the event on their online portals.

    To learn more about Amnesty International or to donate, visit the website www.amnestyusa.org.

    Steve Gillespie is managing editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sgillespie@themeridianstar.com.