Bob Dylan

From Guthrie echo to lyrical alchemy, Dylan stops copying and starts rewriting

Sean Wilentz, author and Princeton historian, traces Bob Dylan’s early shift from mimicry to interpretation in Volume 18: Through the Open Window. Landing in New York in 1961, Dylan arrives with a guitar and a head full of Woody Guthrie, still parroting familiar cadences.

But within months, he begins to transform, reshaping others’ work into something distinctly his. Tracks like his rendition of Guthrie’s “Ramblin’ Round” signal that Dylan is done copying; he’s rewriting the grammar of American song.

Dylan Rejoins Farm Aid, 39 Years After Half a Sentence Sparked the Whole Thing

Bob Dylan returns to Farm Aid for its 40th edition, joining Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and other regulars on stage in Minneapolis. His appearance nods to a 1985 off-hand remark at Live Aid that inspired Nelson to create the event for family farmers.

Dylan last played Farm Aid in 2023 as a surprise guest and has spent the summer touring alongside Nelson. Their collaboration dates back to that original Farm Aid, where Dylan performed backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, sparking future tours and the Traveling Wilburys project.

Bob Dylan dusts off “Masters of War” in Tokyo, lets the lyrics do the talking

Bob Dylan resurrects “Masters of War” for the first time since 2016, sliding it into a Tokyo setlist without prelude or explanation. The anti-war anthem, absent since the Desert Trip spectacle, re-emerges in the current geopolitical fog with a wry sense of timing.

Dylan’s motives remain securely locked behind his famously impenetrable persona, yet the choice bristles with implications. Whether cryptic nod or mere coincidence, the song’s reappearance turns heads without uttering a single onstage opinion.

Bob Dylan Hits Albany Studio—Talks? None. Tracks? Maybe. Secrets? Plenty.

Bob Dylan clocks in two veiled days at White Lake Studios in Albany, flanked by bandmates and wrapped in the enigma of non-disclosure. No titles, no leaks—just the familiar smoke of artistic movement with none of the mirrors.

Currently zigzagging the States with Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, Dylan keeps the machinery humming. Meanwhile, his Rough And Rowdy Ways tour ticks toward the UK and Ireland, headphones and phone screens left checked at the door.

Bob Dylan chills with Johnny Cash, finds kindred grit in country’s “ultimate end”

Bob Dylan once called Johnny Cash “the living ultimate end” of country music, a phrase laced with reverence and a hint of finality. Their connection bridges folk and country with a shared affinity for storytelling that doesn’t flinch from discomfort.

While Cash’s grounded baritone carved through heartland America, Dylan found in him a mirror—one that “gives me the chills.” Their duet work surfaces like a stitched confession, circling the universal nerve of song as unpretentious but unyielding truth.