Johnny Cash Thought Bob Dylan Was an ‘Old Country Singer’ When He First Heard Him

Johnny Cash was an early fan of Bob Dylan, finding it astonishing that Dylan was able to find success with that type of music. He was also likely impressed when he realized Dylan was just in his early 20s. When Cash first heard Dylan’s music, he thought he was listening to a much older artist.

Johnny Cash thought Bob Dylan was a much older musician

Cash became a fan of Dylan in some of the earliest stages of the singer’s career. He didn’t realize that he was listening to a new, young artist, though.

“The first time I heard him — I don’t know where it was, I believe in Las Vegas — I thought it was an old country singer,” he said, per the book Cash on Cash: Interviews and Encounters With Johnny Cash. “And then I realized somebody told me who he was — and I said, this is really unbelievable that he could get airplay singing that kind of music.”

Cash said he most appreciated Dylan’s unique take on old music.

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“I just heard a fresh approach to some old themes, but really done well with an insight that had never been put on record,” he said. “I just loved his work, loved him. Always have. Still do. I just think he’s still the best thing out there.”

The ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ singer was trying to sound like an older artist

The reason Cash thought that Dylan was an older artist was because he was trying to sound like one. Dylan’s longtime idol was Woody Guthrie. He wrote songs like his and tried to make his singing voice sound like his. He even affected an accent to sound more like Guthrie. This was a trait that irritated some people. 

“I wasn’t crazy about Dylan’s music,” club owner Manny Dworman said, per the book Down the Highway by Howard Sounes. “To me he looked like some young kid trying to pretend he was a weather-beaten [folk musician].” 

After establishing himself as an artist, Dylan began making music that sounded more like himself, not the folk singers he admired.

Johnny Cash began writing fan letters to Bob Dylan

After Cash discovered Dylan’s music, he started writing the younger artist fan letters.

“I had a portable record player that I’d take along on the road,” Cash wrote in Cash: The Autobiography. “And I’d put on [The] Freewheelin’ [Bob Dylan] backstage, then go out and do my show, then listen again as soon as I came off. After a while at that, I wrote Bob a letter telling him how much of a fan I was. He wrote back almost immediately, saying he’d been following my music since ‘I Walk the Line,’ and so we began a correspondence.”

The two artists eventually stopped exchanging letters, but they maintained a relationship. Cash insisted that Dylan was a guest on his show, The Johnny Cash Show. They also collaborated on the song “Girl From the North Country.”