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From forgotten folk heroes to a hot sauce magnate\u2026 MOJO uncovers the real-life story of every musician portrayed in new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.<\/p>\n
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Words by Chris Catchpole<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Timothee-Chalamet-Dylan-lead.jpg” title_text=”Timothee-Chalamet-Dylan-lead” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Perhaps fittingly given Bob Dylan\u2019s history of obscuring and fabricating the details of his own past, James Mangold\u2019s new biopic starring Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, A Complete Unknown, takes a few historical liberties to create a smoother narrative out of some of the more chaotic details of the singer\u2019s arrival in New York and rise to fame.<\/p>\n Indeed, some inaccuracies were reportedly added to the script at Dylan request, including that his girlfriend during the period Suze Rotolo not be named (Rotolo is instead depicted as \u2018Sylvie Russo\u2019), and while some Dylan fans might bristle at an audience member shouting \u2018Judas!\u2019 during his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (the fabled heckle happened at the Royal Albert Hall in May the following year), it\u2019s hard to disagree that it adds to the drama of a climactic scene in which Dylan\u2019s decision to perform electric causes an irreparable schism with the folk scene that nurtured him.<\/p>\n Speaking to MOJO last year, Mangold revealed how he would meet Dylan over coffee to discuss the script and how the singer approved of the tale the director wanted to tell.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first met Bob one of the first things he said to me is, \u2018What\u2019s this movie about?\u2019 And I said, \u2018It\u2019s about a guy who\u2019s choking to death in Minnesota, who runs away to the big city, leaving behind all his friends and all he knew, reinvents himself, makes new friends, makes a new community, takes it over, and then starts to choke to death, and leaves.\u2019 And Bob smiled at that. Because I feel like that is the story. And that intrigued me because I knew I could make a movie about that,\u201d recalled Mangold.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked to read the script, and that was the start of our connection. He liked what I was doing and saw that I didn\u2019t have some kind of agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite some artistic licence taken here and there, the vast majority of the characters and faces we see on screen surrounding the young Dylan are depictions of real people, from music legends who need little introduction like Johnny Cash and Joan Baez, to blink and you\u2019ll miss them appearances from lesser known players in Dylan\u2019s story such as Bruce \u2018Mr Tambourine Man\u2019 Langhorne and future Pink Floyd\/Nick Drake producer Joe Boyd manning the sound desk at Newport.<\/p>\n To help separate fact from fiction, MOJO has uncovered the real-life story of every musician featured in the film and what happened to them after the dust had settled on Dylan\u2019s seismic shift from folk to rock and roll\u2026<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Pete-Seeger-film-pic.jpg” title_text=”Pete Seeger film pic” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”s-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”42px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Edward Norton<\/strong><\/p>\n A Complete Unknown director James Mangold plays with some of the facts surrounding Dylan\u2019s relationship with the banjo-playing head of folk\u2019s old guard. In reality the pair didn\u2019t meet in Woodie Guthrie\u2019s hospital room, but several months later in 1961 when the young singer was already making waves. Although thrilling, the scene where Dylan gatecrashes Seeger\u2019s Rainbow Quest Decade television show is a complete fabrication (as is the hard-drinking Mississippi bluesman musician Jesse Moffette, who the pair perform with).<\/p>\n There was, however, a strong bond of mutual respect and admiration between the two. Seeger was generally enamoured with Dylan, who he saw as the great hope for the folk and old left movements for which Seeger had battled through the dark days of McCarthyism (as depicted to in the film, Seeger and his group The Weavers had been blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the \u201850s). Dylan of course, had other ideas.<\/p>\n Seeger long maintained that the fabled story of him running around Newport \u201965 with an axe trying to cut the power on Dylan\u2019s electrified performance was a myth, however. \u201cI was furious that the sound was so distorted that you could not hear a word that he was singing,\u201d Seeger later claimed. \u201cHe was singing a great song, Maggie\u2019s Farm, but you couldn\u2019t hear it. I ran over to the sound man and said, \u2018Fix the sound so they can understand him!\u2019 And they hollered back \u2018No, this is the way they want it!\u2019\u2026 I was so mad, I said: \u2018Man, if I had an axe I\u2019d cut the cable right now. I really was that mad.\u201d<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t say those lines in the film, but actor Edward Norton\u2019s anxious glance at a line of axes during the climactic scene is a clear nod to the tale. Post-Newport, Seeger continued to man the barricades of political activism and caused controversy in 1968 when he appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour television show to sing anti-Lyndon B. Johnson song Waist Deep In The Big Muddy. He was a regular figure at anti-Vietnam war protests and benefits for the rest of the \u201860s and performed Guthrie\u2019s This Land Is Your Land with Bruce Springsteen at Barrack Obama\u2019s inauguration weekend in 2009. Seeger passed away in 2014 aged 94, having recorded more than 100 albums.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Joan-Baez-film-pic.jpg” title_text=”A Complete Unknown” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Monica Barbaro Whether Dylan and Joan Baez consummated their relationship on the brink of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as we see in A Complete Unknown, has never been divulged by either party, but they did first meet at Gerde\u2019s Folk City in 1960 where both were performing as shown in A Complete Unknown (in real life, Baez has recalled specifically going down to see up-and-coming Dylan with her then \u201cvery, very jealous boyfriend\u201d).<\/p>\n Initially, Baez was a much bigger name than Dylan on the folk scene and, like Seeger and Van Ronk, did much to raise his profile, frequently inviting him on stage to perform with her. Their artistic appreciation for one another developed into a romance, yet as his star eclipsed hers, the relationship curdled.<\/p>\n Not depicted in the film is Dylan\u2019s 1965 tour of England which he invited Baez to join him on. Baez had anticipated Dylan would invite her on stage, as she had so often done for him, but he did no such thing. For Baez – also unimpressed with Dylan\u2019s growing interest in drugs and the hip rock and roll crowd \u2013 it was the death knell for their relationship. \u201cI just sort of trotted around, wondering why Bob wouldn\u2019t invite me onstage, feeling very sorry for myself, getting very neurotic and not having the brains to leave and go home,\u201d\u00a0Baez later told Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n However, the mutual appreciation between the two remained. Baez continued to perform and record Dylan\u2019s songs (1968\u2019s Any Day Now consisted entirely of Bob Dylan compositions) and she immortalised their relationship in 1975\u2019s Diamonds And Rust. For his part, Dylan invited Baez to join the Rolling Thunder Review tour between 1975 and 1976.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Woody-Guthrie-film-still-CC.jpg” title_text=”Woody Guthrie film still CC” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Scoot McNairy<\/strong><\/p>\n Again, the story is tweaked for A Complete Unknown\u2019s narrative, but Dylan really did frequently visit ailing singer Woodie Guthrie in hospital and play songs for him (although not, as far as anyone has reported, his own Song For Woody). Dylan hero-worshipped Guthrie, and it\u2019s safe to say the dustbowl-era troubadour was the single biggest influence on his early career.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided then and there to sing nothing but Guthrie songs,\u201d wrote Dylan in his autobiography, Chronicles Volume One, of the first time he heard Guthrie\u2019s music. \u201c[Guthrie\u2019s songs] were an influence on every move I made, what I ate and how I dressed, who I wanted to know, who I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most important figures in American music in the first half of the 20th<\/sup> Century, Guthrie was staying in Greystone Park Hospital in Morristown, New Jersey after being diagnosed with Huntington\u2019s Disease, during the scenes depicted in A Complete Unknown. As his condition deteriorated, he lost control of his muscles and speech and was transferred to different medical facilities, finally being moved to Creedmoor Psychiatric Centre in New York where he died in 1967 aged just 55.<\/p>\n After the period of self-imposed seclusion that followed his motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan made his first public appearance in almost two years at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert that took place at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968, performing Guthrie songs alongside Seeger and Guthrie\u2019s son Arlo.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Joe Tippett<\/strong><\/p>\n Bear-like folk singer Dave Van Ronk only appears in two scenes in A Complete Unknown (Dylan\u2019s arrival in New York and holding court at a party at the singer\u2019s apartment) and isn\u2019t directly named, but his presence is a key one. \u2018The Mayor Of MacDougal Street\u2019, Van Ronk was a central figure in the Greenwich Village folk scene Dylan walked into before quickly outgrowing.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI copied some of his recordings phrase for phrase\u2026 I loved his style,\u201d Dylan wrote of Van Ronk in Chronicles. \u201cIn Greenwich Village, Van Ronk was the king of the street, he reigned supreme.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the Brooklyn-born musician was the inspiration for the Coen Brothers\u2019 titular, out-of-time folkie in 2013\u2019s Inside Llewyn Davis, he had little truck with the folk purists who decried Dylan\u2019s move towards rock. \u201cForty years later Bobby is still out there making music and they\u2019re all dentists,\u201d Van Ronk noted years later.<\/p>\n Other than being a vocal supporter and mentor for the young Dylan upon his arrival in New York, Van Ronk\u2019s arrangements of traditional blues songs was a key early influence (it\u2019s Van Ronk\u2019s take on House Of The Rising Sun that Dylan used as a template for the version on his 1962 self-titled debut album). Unlike Dylan and Van Ronk\u2019s other Caf\u00e9 Wha? proteges like Tom Paxton, however, he was less interested in writing his own material (he didn\u2019t release a full album of his own compositions until 1985\u2019s Going Back To Brooklyn<\/em>) and his general disregard for mainstream success, plus an aversion to travelling far from the Lower West Side of Manhattan, largely kept him a respected but cult figure as he continued to perform until his death in 2002. 1962\u2019s Folksinger<\/em> is an excellent introduction to Van Ronk\u2019s visceral folk-blues hybrid and guitar playing.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Albert-Grossman-film-still-CC.jpg” title_text=”Albert Grossman film still CC” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Dan Fogler<\/strong><\/p>\n Played with glee by comic actor Dan Fogler, in A Complete Unknown Dylan\u2019s manager Albert Grossman represents the hard-nosed, bread-grabbing greed of the music business in contrast to the loftier ideals of the left-leaning folk movement. It\u2019s a characterisation hard to argue with. While it was customary for managers to take 15 per cent of their clients\u2019 takings at the time, Grossman famously charged 25 per cent. \u201cEvery time you talk to me you\u2019re ten per cent smarter than before,\u201d he\u2019s reported as saying. \u201cSo, I just add ten per cent on to what all the dummies charge for nothing.\u201d Indeed, Dylan eventually parted ways with Grossman in 1970 largely due to the realisation that his manager had pocketed 50 per cent of his song publishing.<\/p>\n However, not only did Grossman facilitate Dylan\u2019s rise to stardom, but he also did much to bring folk music as a whole to the wider public consciousness, assembling hugely successful trio Peter, Paul And Mary and representing an impressive roster that included Phil Ochs, Michael Bloomfield and Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n Grossman had a close relationship with Dylan throughout the \u201860s. Grossman\u2019s wife Sally appeared alongside Dylan on the cover of 1965\u2019s Bringing It All Back Home<\/em>\u00a0and Dylan was en route to the couple\u2019s home in Bearsville, near Woodstock, when he suffered the motorcycle accident that prompted his withdrawal from public life. After Joplin\u2019s death in 1970, Grossman continued to manage Dylan\u2019s former sidemen The Band. He died of a heart attack in 1986 aged 59.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Cash-Dylan-film-still-CC.jpg” title_text=”Cash Dylan film still CC” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Boyd Holbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n Director James Mangold had already brought the Man In Black to life on screen in 2005\u2019s Walk The Line starring Joaquin Phoenix. Narcos actor Boyd Holbrook takes the role of Cash in A Complete Unknown and, in a film centred around Dylan\u2019s relationships, Cash\u2019s role is as one of his more reckless, loose-cannon cheerleaders. As Dorian Lynskey wrote in MOJO\u2019s review of the film: \u201cAs Dylan and Seeger\u2019s relationship curdles into that of an embarrassing dad and an eye-rolling teenager, Cash is the hip, indulgent stepdad.\u201d<\/p>\n Another bond based on mutual admiration, Dylan and Cash\u2019s friendship continued after the timeframe depicted in the biopic. The pair duetted on several songs during the sessions for 1969\u2019s Nashville Skyline <\/em>including Girl From The North Country and, later that year, Cash invited Dylan to appear on the first episode of The Johnny Cash show. After Cash\u2019s death in 2003, Dylan paid tribute to the singer, calling him \u201cthe greatest of the greats.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Will Harrison<\/strong><\/p>\n Acid-tongued folk singer Neuwirth served as Dylan\u2019s confidant, consigliere, fixer and occasional road manager as he metamorphosised from apple-cheeked folk hero to amphetamine-fuelled hipster poet, a role you can also see play out in DA Pennebaker\u2019s documentary Don\u2019t Look Back (Neuwirth\u2019s treatment of an increasingly insecure Baez on Dylan\u2019s 1965 tour of Europe is particularly cruel).<\/p>\n \u00a0Neuwirth introduced Dylan to Warhol \u2018superstar\u2019 Edie Sedgwick that year, a relationship loosely depicted in 2006\u2019s risible Factory Girl, and it\u2019s Neuwirth you can see – or the bottom half of him at least – stood behind Dylan on the cover of Highway 61 Revisited<\/em>. Increasingly, however, his role as Dylan\u2019s hepcat lieutenant was taken by The Hawks\/The Band guitarist Robbie Robertson, although Neuwirth was instrumental in helping organise the Rolling Thunder Review, hustling behind the scenes to recruit other artists including, ironically, Joan Baez.<\/p>\n Away from his time with Dylan, Neuwirth co-wrote Janis Joplin\u2019s Mercedes Benz and taught her to play Kris Kristofferson\u2019s Me And Bobby McGee, which became a posthumous number one hit. Though he recorded sporadically himself, Neuwirth\u2019s self-titled 1974 debut released on Asylum is something of an unsung gem. He died in 2022.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Eriko Hatsune<\/strong><\/p>\n Toshi Seeger says only a few lines in A Complete Unknown, but Eriko Hatsune\u2019s performance suggests Pete Seeger\u2019s wife was one of the few people who saw the ruthless ambition burning away underneath young Bobby\u2019s Huck Finn cap.\u00a0<\/p>\n Born in Munich in 1922, Toshi\u2019s resum\u00e9 as an activist and film-maker is as impressive as anyone of the era. Having moved to the US as a baby, she served on the New York State Council Of The Arts, marched with Martin Luther King, was instrumental in setting up the Newport Folk Festival and helped discover blues musician Mississippi John Hurt. Toshi is credited as the organisational brains behind her husband\u2019s idealism. She produced his Rainbow Quest Decade television series and set up the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental campaign to clean up the Hudson River near the pair\u2019s home in Beacon, New York. She died in 2013.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Alan-Lomax-film-still-CC.jpg” title_text=”Alan Lomax film still CC” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Norbert Leo Butz<\/strong><\/p>\n A Complete Unknown\u2019s depiction of Alan Lomax as a Luddite trad reactionary may be entertaining (\u201cIt\u2019s the Newport Folk Festival, not the Teen Dream, Brill Building, Top 40, British Invasion Festival!\u201d he bellows at Dylan prior to Newport \u201865), but is perhaps unfair to the folklorist and musicologist.<\/p>\n Lomax\u2019s impact on popular music is incalculable. His field recordings of blues, gospel, bluegrass and Appalachian folk musicians taped in the \u201830s and \u201840s were sacred texts not only for folk singers like Dylan searching for authenticity, but blues-infatuated musicians across the Atlantic including The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Through his work, Lomax brought otherwise obscure musicians including Muddy Waters, Huddie Ledbetter, Jelly Roll Morton and Woodie Guthrie to a wider audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fiercely opposed to what he saw as the commercialisation of traditional music by the corporate music industry, he was a vocal critic of Dylan\u2019s move away from folk (he did indeed once get into a fistfight with Albert Grossman) and had little time for the contemporary takes on the music he\u2019d devoted his life to documenting (\u201cthe riptide of inauthentic shit\u201d as he calls it on screen). After the \u201850s, Lomax turned his attentions to traditional European and Caribbean folk music and died in Florida in 2002 aged 87.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: David Alan Basche<\/strong><\/p>\n Had he only signed Bob Dylan, John Hammond\u2019s place in history would have been assured. However, the legendary A&R man\/producer was also responsible for midwifing the careers of Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and many others.<\/p>\n As we see on screen, after first watching Dylan perform in Greenwich Village, Hammond instantly saw his potential and invited the young singer to audition for Columbia Records and produced his 1962 debut LP. Hard to imagine with hindsight, but it was considered a reckless move at the time, so much so that Dylan was initially referred to as \u201cHammond\u2019s folly\u201d within the company. Not for the first time, Hammond\u2019s instincts were proved right, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n By 1963\u2019s The Freewheelin\u2019 Bob Dylan<\/em>, however, Hammond had stepped back as Dylan\u2019s producer and professionally the two had limited contact after then, though Dylan still credits Hammond with being the first person to really believe in him. After leaving Columbia in 1975, Hammond continued to work as a talent scout and signed guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1983. He died in 1987 aged 76.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/Brownie-McGhee.jpg” title_text=”Brownie McGhee 2019994 Brownie McGhee by Unknown photographer, (20th century); (add.info.: Brownie McGhee (1915 1996 sin” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Joshua Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n A peripheral figure in A Complete Unknown (he appears briefly performing at the church hootenanny where Dylan meets soon-to-be girlfriend Sylvie Russo aka Suze Rotolo), Tennessee bluesman Brownie McGhee often shared bills with Dylan in Greenwich Village clubs and, as part of a musical partnership with Sonny Terry (also depicted in the film by Muddy Waters\u2019 son, Big Bill Morganfield), played an important part in the young singer\u2019s wider appreciation of blues and folk music.<\/p>\n Later in the decade, McGhee joined Dylan, Pete Seeger and others onstage during 1968\u2019s Tribute To Woodie Guthrie. Outside of music, McGhee appeared in Steve Martin film The Jerk, Alan Parker\u2019s Angel Heart and a 1988 episode of Family Ties playing fictional blues musician Eddie Dupre. Dylan would later mention McGhee, who died of stomach cancer in 1996, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 2016.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Eric Berryman<\/strong><\/p>\n From the sessions for The Freewheelin\u2019 Bob Dylan onwards, a by turns amused and bemused-looking Tom Wilson is shown working the recording desk for Dylan\u2019s sessions in A Complete Unknown.<\/p>\n After setting up jazz label Transition Records in the \u201850s and putting out records including Sun Ra\u2019s first LP, the real-life Wilson became Columbia\u2019s in-house producer.<\/p>\n He took over from John Hammond halfway through Freewheelin\u2019\u2026 and served as Dylan\u2019s producer for The Times They Are A-Changin\u2019, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home and Like A Rolling Stone. He also produced Simon & Garfunkel\u2019s debut album, signed Frank Zappa And The Mothers of Invention to Verve in 1966 and, despite Andy Warhol taking the official credit, to all intents and purposes produced 1967\u2019s The Velvet Underground & Nico. Speaking to Rolling Stone\u2019s Jann Wenner in 1969, Dylan conceded that rather than having this new rock and roll form sprung upon him, the producer had a specific sound in mind for Dylan\u2019s change of direction ahead of recording. Wilson died of a heart attack in 1978 aged 47.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Nick Pupo<\/strong><\/p>\n Peter Yarrow\u2019s role in A Complete Unknown, aside from being insulted by Alan Lomax, is largely as a representative of the more conservative folk movement, sitting in on the Newport Festival board meetings and looking increasingly anxious at Dylan\u2019s career trajectory. In real life, Yarrow was a member of the clean-cut trio Peter, Paul And Mary, assembled by Grossman to sell folk music to a mainstream audience and responsible for popularising many of Dylan\u2019s early songs such as Blowin\u2019 In The Wind (although uncredited, bandmate Paul Stookey also appears). He also wrote Puff The Magic Dragon (adapting it from a 1959 poem by Lenny Lipton), which briefly plays as an altered Dylan stumbles around Greenwich at night with his shades on. Yarrow was convicted in 1970 of molesting a teenage girl and served three months in prison but was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981. He passed away in January 2025.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Eli Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n As he starts to chase down the thin, wild mercury sound he could hear in his head, Dylan is shown in A Complete Unknown yelling down the phone to Grossman demanding hot new guitarist (and fellow Grossman charge) Mike Bloomfield plays on his upcoming session because he wants musicians \u201cwith hair on their heads\u201d as opposed to old guard sessionmen.<\/p>\n Virtuoso blues guitarist (\u201cwhite blues guitarist\u201d Alan Lomax acidly points out in the film) with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bloomfield was a key component of Dylan\u2019s new rock and roll sound, lending his searing blues lines to Like A Rolling Stone and the vast majority of Highway 61 Revisited, and was part of the band picked by Dylan to back him at Newport in 1965 alongside several of his PBBB bandmates who were also playing that weekend.<\/p>\n Bloomfield reportedly declined the offer to play on Blonde On Blonde as he felt his blues style wasn\u2019t suitable for Dylan\u2019s new songs and also spurned Dylan\u2019s advances to be a part of his new touring band (The Hawks, later rechristened The Band, would instead take the gig). He continued instead to play with Butterfield until 1967, formed the short-lived Electric Flag with PBBB pianist Barry Goldberg (also depicted in the film by actor Justin Levine) and reunited with fellow Like A Rolling Stone alumnus Al Kooper for 1968\u2019s successful Super Session and live sequel The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper.<\/p>\n As a solo artist and guitarist, he continued to play with a host of names including Janis Joplin, Mother Earth, Duane Allman, Dr John, Taj Mahal and John Hammond Jnr, although his career in the \u201870s was hampered by his heroin addiction. Bloomfield sat in with Dylan at San Francisco\u2019s Warfield Theatre in 1980 and continued to perform around the West Coast before dying from an overdose of Valium in 1981 aged just 37.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Charlie Tahan<\/strong><\/p>\n The legend of how guitarist Al Kooper snuck his way onto the session for Like A Rolling Stone after Tom Wilson invited him to watch from the control room is a firm part of rock and roll folklore and Kooper is always keen to recount how he found himself adding the song\u2019s distinctive Hammond organ part, despite never having played the instrument before. \u201cTom said, \u2018You know that guy\u2019s not an organ player, right?\u2019 Kooper told MOJO in 2004. \u201cBob said, \u2018I don\u2019t care, just turn it up!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Something of a rock and roll Zelig, Kooper played French horn on The Rolling Stones\u2019 You Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want, co-founded Blood Sweat & Tears and has played on countless records by artists including The Who, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King and Alice Cooper. Following Highway 61\u2026 \u00a0Kooper also played on Blonde On Blonde in 1966, and 1970\u2019s Self Portrait and New Morning albums. In 1981 Kooper reunited with Dylan to play organ on tour with the singer and contributed to Empire Burlesque (1985), Knocked Out Loaded (1986) and Under The Red Sky (1990).<\/p>\n As a producer, Kooper recorded the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums and The Tubes\u2019 self-titled 1975 debut among others. In 2023 he was selected for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Malick Koly<\/strong><\/p>\n Even the most eagle-eyed of Dylanologists might have missed the brief appearance of Bruce \u2018Mr Tambourine Man\u2019 Langhorne in A Complete Unknown, were it not for actor Malick Koly\u2019s telltale brandishing of a tambourine during the Bringing It All Back Home recording sessions. While Langhorne didn\u2019t technically play a tambourine (it was actually a Turkish frame drum with bells attached), being the inspiration for one of Bob Dylan\u2019s best-known songs would be reason enough for his place in history.<\/p>\n Born in Florida, guitarist Langhorne\u2019s distinctive playing style was in part down to the fact that he blew off two of the fingertips on his right hand playing with firecrackers when he was a child. An in-demand session player, other than adding guitar to multiple Dylan tracks (his playing on Corrina, Corinna and Love Minus Zero\/No Limit are particular highlights), he played with Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Odetta and the two albums he recorded in the mid-\u201860s with Richard and Mimi Fari\u00f1a \u00a0– Celebrations For A Grey Day and Reflections In A Crystal Wind were highly influential.<\/p>\n Towards the end of the decade, Langhorne moved away from session work and focused on film scores where his sparse, understated take on Americana informed many other composers, particularly Ry Cooder, whose acclaimed soundtrack to Paris, Texas owes much to Langhorne\u2019s work on The Hired Hand in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you had Bruce playing with you,\u201d Dylan once said, \u201cthat\u2019s all you would need to do just about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of his musical achievements, Langhorne founded the popular hot sauce company Brother Bru-Bru\u2019s African Hot Sauce in 1992. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 2006, he died of kidney failure in 2017.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Kayli Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n Readers might know Maria Muldaur best for her 1973 hit Midnight At The Oasis, but the singer was a prominent figure on the Greenwich music scene in the early \u201860s, playing with future Lovin\u2019 Spoonful singer John Sebastian among others, and was one of the few musicians on the circuit who was actually born and raised in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Although a non-speaking character in A Complete Unknown, serving mainly to add to the general Village milieu, Muldaur provides insightful contributions about Dylan\u2019s early years and the reaction at Newport \u201865 in Martin Scorsese\u2019s 2005 documentary No Direction Home.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Michael Chernus<\/strong><\/p>\n A close friend of Pete Seeger, folk-singer, actor and activist Theodore Bikel was one of the co-founders of the Newport Folk Festival and \u2013 as depicted \u2013 tried to mediate\/cool tensions when Dylan went electric at the festival in 1965.<\/p>\n Born in Vienna, Bikel\u2019s family fled to Palestine after the Nazis\u2019 annexation of Austria and alongside a long career in music (he recorded over 20 albums in 21 languages), he was an Oscar and Tony-nominated actor, appearing in both Hollywood films and Broadway musicals from the 1950s onwards. He created the role of Captain Von Trapp in the original production of the Sound Of Music (when Rogers and Hammerstein discovered Bikel was an accomplished folk singer, they wrote the song Edelweiss specifically for him) and performed the lead role of Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof during its long-running Broadway production over 2,000 times. He screen-tested for Auric Goldfinger in 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger and on television his CV includes appearances in Rawhide, Mission Impossible, Murder She Wrote, Knight Rider, Ironside and Columbo. Bikel was a committed political activist (Eleanor Roosevelt once gave him a lift from a production of The Sound Of Music to a Democrat Rally in the early \u201860s) and in 1977 Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1977 for a six-year term.\u00a0 He died in 2015 aged 91.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Will Price<\/strong><\/p>\n Producer Joe Boyd was the production manager at Newport in 1965 and is shown in A Complete Unknown arguing with Seeger over the sound desk. \u201cThe remarkable thing about that weekend,\u201d Boyd recently recalled of Newport, \u201cwas that so many big historical events become hinges of history in retrospect, but this was one of those events that everybody saw coming and everybody was alert to and conscious of as it was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Boston-born Boyd moved to London in 1964 to set up Elektra\u2019s UK offices, where he co-founded pivotal psychedelic club UFO, produced Pink Floyd\u2019s debut single Arnold Layne and albums by The Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Soft Machine, Richard Thompson, Nico\u2019s Desertshore, Vashti Bunyan\u2019s Just A Diamond Day, and Nick Drake\u2019s Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter. In the \u201880s he recorded R.E.M.\u2019s Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985) and Billy Bragg\u2019s Worker\u2019s Playtime (1988). His memoir White Bicycles: Making Music In The \u201860s is a must-read for any fans of the era.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Mark Whitfield Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n A respected blues and R&B drummer who played with Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Howlin\u2019 Wolf, by 1965 Sam Lay was touring and recording primarily with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and was part of the group who backed Dylan at Newport in 1965 alongside Jerome Arnold (played by Joshua Crumbley). Although uncredited on the album\u2019s liner notes, he also took part in the sessions for the track Highway 61 Revisited. Although in the film we see Dylan buy the siren whistle heard at the start of the song from a New York street vendor, it has been reported that Lay (or possibly Kooper) was responsible for bringing it along to the session. Lay died in 2022 aged 86.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: P.J. Byrne<\/strong><\/p>\n Manager, promotor and activist, Harold Leventhal was an influential figure on the folk scene in the \u201850s and \u201860s. He promoted Dylan\u2019s first concert, at the Town Hall in New York City in April 1963, and managed Guthrie, Seeger, Bikel, Tom Paxton and more. Following Guthrie\u2019s death in 1967, Leventhal took the singer\u2019s son Arlo under his wing who worked in Leventhal\u2019s offices before making his name with 1967\u2019s Alice\u2019s Restaurant Massacree. He died in 2005 aged 86.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Jordan Goodsell<\/strong><\/p>\n Engineer\/producer Roy Halee was born into a musical family in Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy, provided the singing voice for Mighty Mouse in the 1940s cartoon series. Depicted in A Complete Unknown at the mixing desk alongside Tom Wilson, Halee worked as an engineer on Like A Rolling Stone and Highway 61 Revisited, but is perhaps best known for producing Simon & Garfunkel. He\u2019s namechecked on 1965 solo Simon track A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara\u2019d Into Submission) and won Grammy awards for his work on Simon & Garfunkel songs Mrs Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water and 1968 LP Bookends. After the duo split up, Halee continued to work with Simon, producing his first two solo LPs and accompanied the singer on the 1985 trip to South Africa which produced 16 million plus selling album Graceland.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Ian Kagey<\/strong><\/p>\n Bassist Harvey Brooks was among the musicians brought into the Highway 61\u2026 sessions as Dylan and producers Tom Wilson and Bob Johnston (the latter is not depicted in the film, presumably to avoid confusion with Wilson) looked for a more rock and roll-facing sound and briefly became a part of Dylan\u2019s live band alongside The Hawks\/Band members Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm. He joined Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield on various projects including 1968 Super Sessions, played on Mama Cass\u2019s debut solo album Dream A Little Dream, The Doors\u2019 The Soft Parade and Miles Davis\u2019 Bitches Brew and Big Fun. He moved to Israel in 2009 and in 2020 released his first album of original material Elegant Geezer, Jerusalem Sessions.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Malcolm Gold, Patrick Phalen and Douglas Marriner<\/strong><\/p>\n The Tennessee Three (The Tennessee Two until the arrival of drummer W.S. Holland in 1960) were Johnny Cash\u2019s backing band for almost 25 years, helping to create the distinctive freight train rhythm behind Cash\u2019s songs. Guitarist Perkins and upright bassist Grant had worked in the same Memphis car dealership as Cash\u2019s older brother Roy and would bring their instruments in when business was slow. When Cash returned from his posting in Germany with the US Air Force in 1954 they began playing together. At Cash\u2019s first recording session for Sam Phillips\u2019 Sun Records they had presented themselves as The Tennessee Three, but Phillips suggested billing them as Johnny Cash And The Tennessee Two. Prior to joining, Holland had drummed for country legend Carl Perkins. Cash guitarist Perkins died in 1968 from injuries sustained in a house fire, to be replaced by Bob Wootton. The Tennessee Three would back Cash until 1980, when Grant left to manage gospel country group The Statler Brothers, though Holland and Wootton continued to play with Cash until his death in 2003.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Andre Chez Lewis<\/strong><\/p>\n A highly sought-after session pianist, Paul Griffin was part of the New York circle of musicians known as \u2018The A Team\u2019 favoured by Phil Spector and Jerry Wexler. He played on hits by The Shirelles, Dion And The Belmonts and The Drifters before working with Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. He continued to record throughout the 60s and 70s playing on, among others, Roberta Flack\u2019s Killing Me Softly and Steely Dan\u2019s 1977 album Aja. He passed away in 2000.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Felix Lemerle<\/strong><\/p>\n New York singer songwriter Kenny Rankin appears briefly in A Complete Unknown during the sessions for Highway 61… for which he contributed guitar. A contemporary of Dylan in his Greenwich Village days, Rankin was noted for bringing a jazz influence into his interpretations, including his 1967 version of Mr Tambourine Man. His song Peaceful, from \u201867 debut album Mind-Dusters, because a hit for both Georgie Fame and Helen Reddy. He became close friends with the comedian George Carlin and would often open for Carlin on tour. He performed at Carlin\u2019s funeral in 2008 and died from lung cancer the following year.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_class=”ss-custom-header” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” text_font_size=”35px” header_2_font=”Cabin|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”35px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portrayed by: Jimmy Caltrider<\/strong><\/p>\n Drummer Bobby Gregg had played with Chuck Berry before Tom Wilson invited him in 1964 to help re-record an exploratory full band version of Dylan\u2019s 1962 recording of House Of The Rising Sun in the wake of The Animals\u2019 hit version. Gregg played on the \u2018electric side\u2019 of Bringing It All Back Home in 1965 and was invited back for the Like A Rolling Stone and Highway 61\u2026 sessions (it\u2019s Gregg you can hear launching Like A Rolling Stone with a pistol-like crack of the snare drum). In November 1965, Gregg briefly joined Dylan\u2019s backing band The Hawks following the departure of Levon Helm, before being replaced by Sandy Konikoff.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Images: IMAGO<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From forgotten folk heroes to a hot sauce magnate\u2026 MOJO uncovers the real-life story of every musician portrayed in new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1998,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions\/1998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pete Seeger<\/h2>\n
Joan Baez<\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nWoody Guthrie<\/h2>\n
Dave Van Ronk<\/h2>\n
Albert Grossman<\/h2>\n
Johnny Cash<\/h2>\n
Bob Neuwirth<\/h2>\n
Toshi Seeger<\/h2>\n
Alan Lomax<\/h2>\n
John Hammond<\/h2>\n
Brownie McGhee<\/h2>\n
Tom Wilson<\/h2>\n
Peter Yarrow<\/h2>\n
Mike Bloomfield<\/h2>\n
Al Kooper<\/h2>\n
Bruce Langhorne<\/h2>\n
Maria Muldaur<\/h2>\n
Theodore Bikel<\/h2>\n
Joe Boyd<\/h2>\n
Sam Lay<\/h2>\n
Harold Leventhal<\/h2>\n
Roy Halee<\/h2>\n
Harvey Brooks<\/h2>\n
Marshall Grant, Luther Perkins and W.S. Holland (aka The Tennessee Three)<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
Paul Griffin<\/h2>\n
Kenny Rankin<\/h2>\n
Bobby Gregg<\/h2>\n