The Last Individualist

An illuminating portrait of Bob Dylan’s return to Minnesota and creative revival during the making of Infidels, featuring a long-lost 1983 interview, rare photographs, and intimate insights into the friendship and rural retreat that shaped his 1980s artistry.

 

Bob Dylan: The Last Individualist offers a vivid, behind-the-scenes look at a pivotal moment in Dylan’s career, centered on the creation of his 1983 album Infidels. With rare access and insight, music journalist Martin Keller chronicles Dylan’s retreat to his native Minnesota, where—while staying with lifelong friend Larry Kegan—he found space to recharge creatively and personally. Drawing on a recently recovered, long-lost interview from 1983, previously unpublished photographs, and firsthand reporting, Keller reveals how the quietude of rural life and the strength of enduring friendships sparked a powerful artistic resurgence following Dylan’s polarizing religious period.

This intimate portrait also illuminates Dylan’s fiercely independent spirit. Renowned for defying labels and reinventing himself on his own terms, he consistently rejected expectations—musical, cultural, or political—in favor of authenticity. His unwavering commitment to creative freedom and refusal to be defined by others underscore the legacy of one of music’s most original and enduring voices.

LOST INTERVIEW: Recently recovered after decades out of circulation, Keller’s wide-ranging 1983 interview with Bob Dylan offers rare and revealing insight into the artist’s spiritual and philosophical views at a transformative moment in his career.

RARE PHOTOS: With two 8-page inserts that illuminate the casual calm Dylan enjoyed with his best friend, Larry Kegan, among others who stopped by to talk, eat, and play music.

IN DEPTH-LOOK AT THE DYLAN-KEGAN FRIENDSHIP: Larry Kegan, the musician and songwriter who was Dylan’s best friend, suffered two injuries that ultimately rendered him a quadriplegic. Their friendship, rooted in their Jewish upbringing, never wavered despite Kegan’s disability.

GREAT MINNESOTA MUSIC SCENE: Martin Keller talks about Dylan’s impact on the local music scene, along with mentions of Paul Westerberg, Leo Kottke, Bob Mould, and, of course, Prince.