Leo: I know what you mean, even though I don't agree completely. I've read and heard plenty from Dylan before that seemed *sincere* enough to me, but never anything so plainly and straightforwardly stated -- which makes it such a great tribute to Johnny Cash.

When I first read the thread title, I immediately thought of Dylan's appearance on the Johnny Cash *TV show* back in about 1968. This was around the time of "Nashville Skyline," and to some fans, Bob's embrace of country music was more disturbing than his earlier move from acoustic to electric instrumentation had ever been. Back then, the evident friendship between these two huge artists helped many members of their respective followings to understand and respect each other (and thus understand more about human nature and about music).