Just been listening to the fascinating Radio 4 programmme on the Critics Group. One of the things that rather jumped out at me was that Ewan MacColl dismissed Bob Dylan as "the William MacGonagall of our age" (ie:doggerel poet). Whilst greatly admiring the classic MacColl legacy, he also came out with:-

"Joe Stalin was a mighty man and a mighty man was he
He led the Soviet people on the road to victory."

OK, Score is one-all so far!

But consider:-

Both had assumed names.
Both deeply respected and trawled their own folk traditions, using this in their own writing.
Both were singer/songwriters.
Both wrote protest songs.
Both wrote a number 1 chart hit, although "First Time Ever" didn't happen until 72.

They seem to have had a lot in common in the 1960s -was this just a generation thing, as BD was really following the EM philosophy of exploring your own tradition and using it - the major difference seems to be the 25 years separating their youth - EM would have been heading for the bus pass while Bob was a mere fresh faced youth.

The word "genius" is bandied about a lot, and has been applied to both - don't actually know what Bob made of Ewan?