Bob Dylan - new album just out on Tidal - Rough and Rowdy Ways

Actually, Robert Zimmerman WAS a member of a Rock ’n’ Roll band, while a high school student in Hibbing, Minnesota. I forget their name, but can you imagine having been in that band with him? Who knew?!

Dylan was a fan of Bobby Vee, born in Fargo, ND of Like a Rubber Ball I’ll Come Bouncing Back to You fame. Dylan progressed from songs about death and doom on his first records to some outright rockers when he went electric. Then back to doom and gloom! 😩

Early in Vee’s career, a musician calling himself Elston Gunn briefly toured with the band.[11][12][13] This was Robert Allen Zimmerman, who later went on to fame as Bob Dylan. Dylan’s autobiography mentions Vee and provides complimentary details about their friendship, both professional and personal.

I believe Dylan was asked once ‘what he was’, and he replied a ‘trapeze artist’. That’s exactly how I would expect Dylan to respond to a question like that.

Seriously, I don’t think you can classify Dylan, and I doubt he would do so if asked (see above).

There are a lot of bands I don’t consider rock even though others do, and the ‘Hawks’, er I mean The Band, was one of those. I never considered The Band a ‘rock band’. Some band and musicians just don’t fit in a nice tidy box, some others do.

You’re close. Very close. “Song and dance man.”  🕺🏻

Yes, he may have stated that as well once. But he did call himself a ‘trapeze artist’ as well.