I became a Bob Dylan fan when... I realized he was as essentially American an artist as ever lived, a complex reflection of more of the nation and culture than a thousand commentators ever could express.

Plugged or unplugged? His unplugging was a fine moment in up-yours rebel yellin'. The old fogies of folk like the constipated, insipid Pete Seeger were has-beens before they ever started, and clung to a ludicrous notion of cultural expression that was academic, reductive, condescending, and just plain boring. But Dylan was, then, phenomenal plugged or unplugged.

Favorite album of all time (if I had to choose one): The earliest have been the best - the second to fifth, more or less. There's great stuff all through his discography, of course.

Favorite song: Hattie Carroll is one for the ages; there are many other early ballads and the like that are unsurpassed.