A Complete Unknown: Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash's Friendship In Real Life Explained

Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for A Complete Unknown!

The country singer Johnny Cash plays an essential role in the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, raising questions about what their real-life friendship looked like and how it compared to the movie. Bob Dylan is considered one of the best songwriters of all time, making him a popular subject for documentaries and biopics. In 2024, director James Mangold released A Complete Unknown, a movie that follows Bob Dylan’s life in the early 1960s.

Many folk singers from the era appear in the movie, but one character in A Complete Unknown might surprise viewers – Johnny Cash. At first glance, the singer’s inclusion might feel like a promo for Mangold’s 2005 music biopic Walk the Line. However, Cash’s appearance fits within the narrative of A Complete Unknown because the singer had a four-decade-long friendship with Bob Dylan.

Johnny Cash Initiated A Pen-Pal Relationship With Bob Dylan In The Early 1960s

Johnny Cash Became A Huge Fan Of Bob Dylan Early In His Career

Like in A Complete Unknown, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan first became friends through letters written back and forth. Cash wrote about what inspired him to write to Dylan in his memoir Cash: An Autobiography. The country singer became a fan of the folk singer early in his career. Eventually, he felt compelled to write a letter to Bob Dylan, expressing his admiration for the up-and-comer’s music. He began listening to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan on a portable record player backstage, before and after every show.

Unbeknownst to him, Dylan had been a fan of Cash since he heard “I Walk The Line” in 1955 or 1956, and he considered the singer his idol. This was the beginning of their four-decade-long friendship, during which they stood behind each other’s musical choices. However, they would correspond back and forth for some time before meeting in person for the first time. Cash’s book explains that they wrote back and forth about their music, their social circles, and the people in their genres. They only ceased writing letters once they met in person.

Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash Probably Met Before The 1964 Newport Folk Festival

Bob Dylan & John Carter Cash Suggest The Singers Met Before Newport

The story of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash meeting one another for the first time has become a myth of sorts, with most people thinking they first met backstage at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. This is the version that A Complete Unknown chooses to depict onscreen. However, the duo most likely met before that festival, based on statements from both John Carter Cash – the son of Johnny Cash – and Bob Dylan.

After Johnny Cash passed away from diabetes-related complications on September 12, 2003, Bob Dylan was asked to write a eulogy, which Rolling Stone published. During his eulogy, Dylan revealed that the pair first met in either 1962 or 1963. If the only source were Dylan’s statement, there would be good reason to doubt the truth of the matter. After all, Dylan is considered an unreliable narrator, and he spent his early career lying about growing up with the circus.

While these accounts bring the myth into question, they don’t change the significance of the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, where Johnny Cash passed his guitar to Bob Dylan in real life.

However, John Carter Cash also asserted that Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan met in a different way than in the myth. During a Reddit AMA, the legend’s son said that his father used to tell the story of the duo meeting for the first time (via Uproxx). They reportedly first met in the early 1960s in a New York City hotel room. At this point, Bob Dylan ran into the room, jumped on the bed, and started chanting, “I met Johnny Cash” over and over. Considering the festival is in Rhode Island, the duo meeting in NYC would indicate they met sometime before Newport.

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown

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While these accounts bring the myth into question, they don’t change the significance of the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, where Johnny Cash passed his guitar to Bob Dylan in real life. This is a sign of respect in the country genre Additionally, like in A Complete Unknown, the country singer played an electric set, proving that Dylan wasn’t the first to take that step. As such, the negative reaction from folk purists at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival had less to do with electric instruments being played at the festival and more to do with the fact that it was Bob Dylan playing electric.

Johnny Cash Publicly Defended Bob Dylan’s Music Choices

Johnny Cash Spoke Up For Bob Dylan In Early 1964

Bob Dylan plays with his band in A Complete Unknown
Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

The friendship between Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan was no big secret, with the duo speaking highly of each other on many occasions. However, one of the most meaningful events solidified their camaraderie. Johnny Cash wrote a letter to the editor of Broadside Magazine, which appeared in issue #41 and came out on March 10, 1964 (via Sing Out!). The short letter, which reads like a poem, says this:

HI BROADSIDE: I got hung, but didn’t choke… Bob Dylan slung his rope. I sat down and listened quick… Gravy from that brain is thick. He began by startin’ alright… But the place he started… Was way ahead, out of sight! In the night there’s a light. A lamp is burning in all our dark… But… We must open our eyes to see it… As he listened for the wind…To hear it.

Near my shores of mental dying, Grasping straws and twigs, and drowning, Worthless I, But crying the loudest, Came a Poet Troubadour Singing fine familiar things. Sang a hundred thousand lyrics, Right as Rain, Sweet as Sleep, Words to thrill you…And to kill you. Don’t bad-mouth him, till you hear him, Let him start by continuing, He’s almost brand new,

SHUT UP!… AND LET HIM SING!

…..Johnny Cash

Bob Dylan mentioned how much this meant to him in his eulogy for Cash, claiming he still had a copy of the magazine at the time of his friend’s death. Though they left out this moment, they changed the true story of A Complete Unknown by adding a scene at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Cash tells his friend that he wants to hear the songs that Dylan wants to play.

This scene reaffirms the message of Johnny Cash’s letter, albeit in an intimate way instead of publicly. The country singer understood the value of Bob Dylan’s music and lyrics, wanting to hear what his friend had to say, even if it meant a shift in style or themes.

Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan Collaborated On Music A Few Times

Johnny Cash And Bob Dylan Sing Together On One Bootleg Bob Dylan Album

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash playing guitar together

Bob Dylan continued his musical career after A Complete Unknown, putting out 40 studio albums. With such an expansive portfolio, it’s unsurprising to learn that Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan collaborated on music a couple of times. The best-known example of this is the song “Girl from the North Country,” which they sang as a duet for The Nashville Skyline album. For a long time, this was the only officially released song where they sang together. The duo also covered each other’s songs multiple times. However, this is far from the only time they’ve worked together.

imagery-from-A-Complete-Unknown-

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Bob Dylan actually wrote the song “Wanted Man,” which Johnny Cash first released on the 1969 live album At San Quentin. The duo recorded a demo of the song together, which finally came out under the title “Wanted Man (Take 1)” in 2019. Bob Dylan also appeared on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969, performing these three songs:

  • “Girl From the North Country,” as a duet with Cash
  • “I Threw It All Away”
  • “Livin’ the Blues”

In addition to these instances, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan planned to make an album together, so they recorded numerous songs while Dylan was working on The Nashville Skyline. Sadly, they weren’t able to finish the album, so the music didn’t come out back in 1969.

However, Dylan decided to release more than two dozen tracks from the recording session in his album The Bootleg Series Vol. 15: Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969, which came out in November 2019. It feels like a breath of fresh air to listen to these tracks. Rather than sounding polished and overproduced, these songs – none of which appear in A Complete Unknown’s soundtrack – feel like two friends jamming.