Tag: Bob Dylan

Lookin’ to get silly in Hibbing: Toby Thompson on Echo Star Helstrom, the "Girl from the North Country."

January 25, 2018

Image by Toby Thompson. Image by Echo Helstrom. BY TOBY THOMPSON Echo Star Helmstrom, widely thought to have been the inspiration for Bob Dylan’s song “Girl from the North Country,” died on January 15th. She was 75 and had been my friend for nearly 50 years. She had a combination of vulnerability and toughness that … More Lookin’ to get silly in Hibbing: Toby Thompson on Echo Star Helstrom, the "Girl from the North Country."

Cutting Class Nobly: Toby Thompson on Bob Dylan

October 17, 2016

BY TOBY THOMPSON My reaction to Bob Dylan’s being awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature is, oddly, less public than private. It’s public in that in 1971 I published the first serious book about Dylan’s life, and since 1969 have written of his work fairly regularly. It’s personal in that Dylan’s lyrics, poetry, and … More Cutting Class Nobly: Toby Thompson on Bob Dylan