Bob R. Dylan

American singer-songwriter and musician, and a major figure in popular music for five decades. Lyrics are the first in pop and rock music to be seriously regarded as literature, and became so well known that they have become part of the American lexicon-even politicians such as President Jimmy Carter have cited them. Inspired the Greenwich Village folk scene with his writing. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan included Blowin' in the Wind, A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall, and Masters of War, which were notable protest songs appealing to a growing counterculture. Amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song-from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing. His albums include The Times They Are a-Changin', John Wesley Harding, Blood on the Tracks, Time Out of Mind, and Modern Times. Honors include the National Medal of Arts and a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, as well as induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.