Bob Dylan on his son Jakob Dylan's success

I’m proud of his accomplishments. He’s still young, and he’s come a long way in a short time.

From a composite of interviews with Bob Dylan in 1997 (John Pareles/Edna Gunderson/David Gates/Alan Jackson/Robert Hilburn):

It’s sensational what has happened to the Wallflowers. It’s like one in a million or something. People ask me how I feel about that, as if I wouldn’t be pleased. It was inconsequential what I thought. How do they think I feel? My feeling is that it’s fantastic. I know they’ve sold a ton of records. I hope he sells 100 million.”

I was concerned after the label dropped him and they still were involved in trying to get another record deal, but he made it on his own. If anything, his name would have held him back. I think that held him back on his first record, to tell you the truth. I think that first record would have been accepted if he wasn’t who he was.

I’m proud of his accomplishments. He’s still young, and he’s come a long way in a short time. I worried about him when he started out. I just didn’t want to see him get roughed up. This business can really throw you into deep water. I know they’ve sold a ton of records. He’s had his ups and downs. What he does with the future remains to be seen, but he and his band have done rather well. In contemporary music scene, they have got a voice to be heard. I keep hearing that they’re playing arenas with the Counting Crows .

They’re playing in a different time from me, and people ask me about that, but this is the time they’re playing in. Yeah. My initial thought was that I just didn’t want to see him get roughed up. There’s a lot of performers who’ve got parents who are in the same trade. We all know who they are.