This is coming from someone who was a Johnny Cash fan long before I became a Dylan fan. I know that this thread is about Cash, but I have to say that Dylan's reverence of those who proceeded him is something else. He knows American Music, whether it be Cash, Hank, Woody, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Robert Johnson or Ralph Stanley (who he said singing with was the high point in his career). Whether you like Bob or not, he listened to all of this stuff, was influenced by it and then went on to write the best songs ever to come from this continent.