Everything is like a movie nowadays: Bob Dylan on Instagram
Talking ‘bout Machine Gun Kelly
When: Posted by bobdylan — February 2025
What: A clip from a 2016 video of the Cleveland hip-hop rapper MGK performing at Park Ave CDs, a record shop in Orlando, Florida.
Why: “Just the originator of doing everything opposite of what people wanted him to do, randomly posting a video of me back in the day rapping in a vinyl shop. I’m just like, ‘What the fuck?’ Just trust the signs, man. That was so cool. I’m so grateful. So random.” ~ Machine Gun Kelly on being told that the Dylan Instagram account had posted the clip.
And on June 10th 2025, Machine Gun Kelly’s social media accounts posted a trailer for his next release, lost americana, with a very familiar voice providing the narration.
What else:
George Kelly Barnes, aka Machine Gun Kelly, and Kathryn Kelly
There’s an online theory — probably totally wrong — that Dylan stumbled across MGK’s video while searching for information on the Original Gangster.
Active during the 1920s and `30s, the first Machine Gun Kelly specialized in kidnappings with his wife Kathryn, a “woman hard as nails” who had a flair for PR. Kathryn, already a career criminal when she married Kelly, bought him a Thompson machine gun, gave him the gangster sobriquet, and nagged him into daily practice with the Tommy gun until he was skilled with the weapon. In August of 1933, the FBI published Wanted Posters describing Kelly as an “Expert Machine Gunner,” creating a public frenzy that would make Kelly famous in contemporary newspapers and later history books.
George and Kathyrn were ultimately arrested in late 1933. Legend has it that Kelly gave the FBI its nickname, shouting “Don’t shoot, G-Men!” while surrendering. Interestingly, Machine Gun Kelly served time in Alcatraz during the same period another gangster who Dylan’s Instagram account has featured was incarcerated there — Al Capone. While a model prisoner from the warden’s perspective, Kelly was considered a liar and blowhard by his fellow inmates, who nicknamed him “Popgun” Kelly.
Kelly lived as a prisoner for the remainder of his life, dying in Leavenworth on the day before his 60th birthday in 1954. Kathryn was released from prison in 1958 and lived peacefully in Oklahoma until her death in 1985 at the age of 81.
Other Dylanesque mentions of either MGK: None known.
Last Testament of Frank James
“… No, I don’t regret fighting back. I don’t regret riding fast, shooting straight, or outsmarting the law when the law had already judged me guilty. But do I regret the hardship? The blood? The loss? Yes. I regret Jesse dying the way he did, shot in the back in his own home. I regret my mother losing a son and nearly losing her life at the hands of the Pinkertons. I regret the Youngers spending their best years behind bars while I had the luck to walk free. And I regret that the world changed faster than we could. You see, we weren’t just running from the law. We were running from time itself. And time, time never loses. So if you-…” [recording cuts off at this point ] — from “The Last Testament of Frank James”
When: Posted by bobdylan — February 2025
What: a 15-minute audio clip of a fabricated lecture by Frank James, the older brother of Jesse James and one-time member of the James-Younger Gang.
Why: Dylan’s account posted the video shortly after the 110th anniversary of James’ death on February 18, 1915.
What else: There’s no evidence that the “last testament” was actually written (or ever spoken by) Frank James, although he apparently did go on the lecture circuit for a time in the 1880s.
Was it written by Bob Dylan? Possibly, although the term “written” is more than a bit slippery. Over the years, Dylan has delegated the co-production of many projects credited solely to “Bob Dylan” to an amorphous group of creators sometimes referred to as “Dylan, Inc.” These projects have included Theme Time Radio Hour, The Philosophy of Modern Song, and various paintings and sculptures that Dylan has released.
The Instagram AI-generated reels of voices from beyond the grave — currently numbering five — probably belong in the Dylan Inc. category. Possibly they were conceived by Bob Dylan, certainly approved for release by him, but most likely executed by the kine of Dylan, Inc. who diligently tread the corn. Think of all these as “coming from the workshop of Bob Dylan” if you will.
But if you prefer to believe that an 83-year man is creating AI-generative prompts, collecting images, editing audio clips, and posting videos on Instagram all on his own between tour gigs, please don’t allow me to disillusion you.
Other Dylanesque mentions: Although Mr. D. never specifically mentions Frank James, he did devote a short chapter in The Philosophy of Modern Song to brother Jesse and to Harry McClintock’s 1928 version of the traditional song. McClintock, by the way, was the author — or at least made that claim — of “The Big Rock Candy Mountain,” which you can read more about here.
Jesse, but again not Frank, also made an appearance in musical form in the Cops & Robbers episode of Theme Time, nearly 17 years to the day before the Instagram reel was posted, with Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s version of “Jesse James,” retitled as “Poor Jesse James.”
Dylan himself sings a fragment from one of the earliest versions of “Jesse James” on the so-called “East Orange Tape” bootleg of 1961, where the song attributes itself as being written by one “Billy Gashade,” changed in some versions to “Billy LaShade.” In the song’s earliest known printed version (the Daily Nebraska Press of Nebraska City on September 15, 1886), the final stanza claims the song was “made by old Bob Slade.”
It’s possible that Dylan found the “Billy Gashade” version in John A. Lomax’s book, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, or learned it from another singer who had read Lomax’s book. Whether Billy Gashade, LaShade, or old Bob Slade, there’s no historical record of a person with any of these names being the original author of “Jesse James,” an ironic coda given the effort the songwriter had put into being remembered as the author.
The 1939 movie Jesse James, starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda as the brothers, impressed Woody Guthrie so much that he devoted one his People’s World columns to the film: “The Railroad Racketeers hired Hoodlums & Thugs to beat and cheat the farmers out of their farms — and make em sell em for $1 an acre. Frank & Jesse robbed the train to get even…. No wonder folks likes to hear songs about the Outlaws — they’re wrong allright, but not as 1/2 as dirty and sneakin’ as some of our so-called ‘higher-ups.’”
Inspired by the movie, Guthrie would go on to compose a song about Jesse James — not the better-known 1940 cowboy “cow-cow yicky, come a cow-cow yicky, yicky yea” version, but a darker song Woody wrote in 1939 where Jesse and Frank “never was outlaws at heart” and only took up their bank and train-robbing careers after a “railroad scab” threw a bomb which “killed Mrs. James a-sleeping in her bed.”
That version of “Jesse James” was apparently never recorded, possibly because Woody came to realize that lines like Robert Ford was “a bastard and a coward” who “made love to Jesse’s wife“ before killing Jesse were a bit over-the-top for his popular audience.
The Jesse James movie, while wildly inaccurate, was popular enough to spawn a sequel, 1940s The Return of Frank James. Although Twentieth Century Fox had bought the rights to the James brothers lives, the film — which centered around Frank hunting down the Ford brothers to avenge Jesse’s death — had little to do with Frank James actul life.
The real Frank had surrendered six months after Jesse’s murder, was tried and acquitted twice and went on to a lead a relatively uneventful life. Neither of the Ford brothers were alive at the time of Frank’s surrender, and Frank played no part in the death of either Ford. In the movie’s original story outline, Frank was romantically interested in a fictional reporter, Eleanor Stone, but the studio, fearful of a libel suit by either Frank’s widow or son, decided to eliminate the romantic interest.
Above: Frank James in his 70s at the James family farm, circa 1914. The photograph was used for a popular novelty postcard sold in Missouri in both black and white and colorized formats. Note the misspelled “Kodaks Bar(r)ed” sign — an early version of the Yondr bag — forbidding tourist photography. If you wanted a souvenir of your visit, you could buy a postcard from Frank for a dime, 20 cents for the color version.
Lorrie Collins — Rockabilly Kid Phenom
When: Posted by bobdylan — February 2025
What: A clip of Lorrie Collins performing “Heartbeat” on the “Western Ranch Party” in 1958.
Why: February 2025 was the 71st anniversary of the Collins Kids first appearance on the precursor of “Western Ranch Party,” the “Town Hall Party” TV and radio show.
What else:
Lawrencine “Lorrie” Collins and younger brother Larry were a pair of rockabilly kid phenoms in the late `50s. The crew-cut Larry was an accomplished guitar whiz by age 10, known for playing a double-neck Mosrite guitar just like his mentor, Joe Maphis, and bouncing around stage, as one YouTube commentator memorably put it, “like Beaver Cleaver on speed.”
At age 12 Lorrie was equally at home singing country-western standards or red-hot rockabilly numbers. In fact, some of Lorrie’s rockabilly performances were so steamy that they sparked complaints among her later television audience. It also probably didn’t hurt that the pre-teen resembled a cross between Ann-Margaret and Tuesday Weld.
The Collins’ parents moved their family to California in 19 and 53, when Lorrie was all of 11 and her brother 9. A year earlier the popular “Town Hall Party” barn dance-style program had begun broadcasting from Compton, CA over both radio and TV. Larry and Lorrie entered a talent contest sponsored by the show one Friday night in February 19 and 54 and were immediately hired to perform for the “Town Hall Party” the next day — ultimately appearing in every episode thereafter.
Thanks to the show, the duo signed a recording contract with Columbia in 19 and 55 and churned out singles into the early `60s. Even though they never hit the charts, the Collins Kids were a popular stage act and regulars on other television variety shows, including the Arthur Godfrey, Perry Como, Dinah Shore and Steve Allen shows. They made it to the Grand Ol’ Opry and toured with both Johnny Cash and Bob Wills.
Bob Wills unfortunately threw up on Larry in the back seat of a limousine during that tour. While Cash apparently had better control, their joining his tour would eventually lead to the end of the Collins Kids’ career.
After Rick Nelson spotted Lorrie at the “Town Hall Party”, he had her cast as his girlfriend in his parents popular sitcom, “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.” Even as wholesome as the Nelsons were, the brothers had an eye for good-lookin’ girls. Rick’s brother, David, would eventually marry June Blair, a 1957 Playboy centerfold, who would also play his on-screen wife.
Rick and Lorrie were briefly engaged in real life and the story, probably apocryphal, goes that Nelson recorded his first single, a cover of Fats Domino’s I’m Walkin’, in order to impress Lorrie. But Lorrie would start a relationship with Johnny Cash’s manager while on tour when she was just 17, marry him, and give birth to their first child in 1961, effectively killing the Collins Kids’ career when Lorrie decided to quit the road.
Larry would turn to songwriting, and have more than a little success, penning Delta Dawn which would become a #6 Country hit for 13-year-old Tanya Tucker, as well as a #1 Pop hit for Helen Reddy in 19 and 73. Brother and sister Collins would re-ignite their careers and reunite for the largest rockabilly festival in the world at that time, the Hemsby festival in England and go on to play regularly at rockabilly revivals and conventions. Their last show as the Collins Kids was in 2012. Lorrie would pass away in 2018 at age 76 from complications caused by a fall. Larry passed away in 2024.
Other Dylanesque mentions: Sadly, none that I can find, which is a shame. Both Lorrie and brother Larry deserved a slot on Theme Time Radio Hour and a mention in Philosophy of Modern Song. Perhaps the Dylan Instagram post was a partial apology for those omissions.
Have a comment or question? Email me at fhbals@gmail.com
Like this article? You might also like:
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Bob Dylan, Knocked Out Loaded, and the Daughters of Doom
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Have a comment or question? Email me at fhbals@gmail.com
