If Dylan doesn't make the cut as a "genius," I'm not sure anyone else of his generation would. Maybe Dave knew The Bob too well, and too early, to ever see him as anything more than a very bright young con artist.

Dave knew Mississippi John Hurt pretty well, too, and doesn't mention his name, not even dismissively, in this discussion of "genius." John would fall into a different category of "folk artist" than Bob or Joni ~ less self-conscious, more "folk" or "naive" or "primitive" ~ but he is certainly as strong a candidate for "genius" status as any comparable artist of his peer group.

But Dave's criteria were, apparently, just really high. Nobody but Bach and the Duke, huh? Pretty esteemed company...