Bob Dylan

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with actor Timothee Chalamet and director James Mangold about their new movie A Complete Unknown.

In 2008, Suze Rotolo reflected on being Dylan's girlfriend and muse. Folk singer Joan Baez spoke to Terry Gross in 1987. In 1998, Al Kooper looked back on his time as a session musician with Dylan.

A Complete Unknown isn't a traditional biopic. Instead of covering Bob Dylan's life story from birth to old age, it covers the period shortly after his arrival in New York City, as he first begins to fall in with the city's folk music scene. Timothée Chalamet plays Dylan — and does all his own singing. We see Dylan become a superstar, as well as his famous set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival —where he and his band plugged in for an electrified set that's often viewed as a cultural turning point in America. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture. Subscribe to NPR Plus at plus.npr.org or make a gift at donate.npr.org.

The Newport Folk Festival is an annual music festival that's been hosted in Newport, Rhode Island, since the 1950s. Bob Dylan, who was considered folk music's then-reigning king, performed at the festival in 1965 where he made the controversial decision to play the electric guitar. This is the focus of Elijah Wald's 2015 book, Dylan Goes Electric! which has been adapted into the film A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. In today's episode, we revisit a 2015 conversation between Wald and NPR's Arun Rath where they talk about Dylan's decision to play that guitar, electrifying the folk faithful. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

Dylan's 40-show 1974 tour with The Band produced a live double-album later that year. Now, the music available from that tour has increased dramatically with the release of a new 27-CD set.

Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss headline the 2024 Outlaw Music Festival, with appearances by Billy Strings, Celisse, Southern Avenue and Brittney Spencer.

The Bob Dylan Center opens in Tulsa on Tuesday. It contains more than 100,000 pieces from his archives.

"Girl from the North Country" showcases music in a way rarely seen on Broadway, expressing emotion — passion, despair, yearning — but not advancing the plot through lyrics.

Universal Music Publishing Group announced Monday that it had bought the lucrative publishing rights to over 600 Bob Dylan songs. The deal is worth a reported $300 million.

The good songs on Dylan's latest record inflate with interest; the mediocre songs start to shrink and slink away. And there's a striking amount of upbeat rhythm & blues on the album.