Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews
by Jonathan Cott
Watching Dylan Grow
Now in paperback -- the definitive collection of Bob Dylan’s essential
interviews from 1962 to the present Dylan expert and longtime Rolling
Stone contributor Jonathan Cott has compiled thirty-one interviews that,
taken together, present the public transformation of a brilliant young man
evading fame and its attendant invasion of privacy into a seasoned
professional who has learned how to impart truth to those questioning him
without giving away too much of his private self. Included in Bob Dylan:
The Essential Interviews are all six major interviews Rolling Stone
conducted with Dylan, by Jann S. Wenner, Mikal Gilmore, Kurt Loder, and
Cott himself. Other highlights include Nat Hentoff’s legendary 1966
Playboy interview with the singer; Studs Terkel’s 1963 radio interview on
Chicago’s WFMT; the interview Dylan gave to screenwriter Jay Cocks
when Cocks was a Kenyon College student in 1964; a 1965 interview with
director Nora Ephron; and an interview that Sam Shepard turned into a
one-act play for Esquire in 1987. Each piece portrays Bob Dylan as an

interview subject who, as Cott writes in his introduction, is at once
obviously reluctant, self-protecting, and self-concealing but equally often a
stunningly direct, heartfelt, epiphanic, poetic, and, most important, playful
expositor of his munificent and inspiring thought-dreams.
Personal Review: Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews by
Jonathan Cott
Jonathan Cott has written sixteen books including others on Dylan and
both rock and classical musicians: his depth and experience is perfect for
BOB DYLAN: THE ESSENTIAL INTERVIEWS, a compilation of interviews
following Dylan from the early sixties to today. There are over thirty such
interviews gathered here which when taken as a unit provide a smooth
historical and psychological progression you won't find in the many Dylan
biographies on the market. Also included are all six major interviews
Rolling Stone Magazine conducted with Dylan, including Cott's own
interview. This is no light overview as many Dylan titles offer, but an in-
depth account of his life, perspective and art which is a recommended
'must' for any authoritative Dylan collection - even those already stuffed
with books.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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