Jakob Talks About Dear old Dad

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(in Dylan voice): And it's allllll goooooood...

In his studio that afternoon, he had the look of a man who is standing on a diving board, wondering whether to jump. Then he jumped. "Yes," he said, taking a breath, "he was affectionate. When I was a kid, he was a god to me for all the right reasons. Other people have put that tag on him in some otherworldly sense. I say it as any kid who admired his dad and had a great relationship with him. He never missed a single Little League game I had. He's collected every home run ball I ever hit. And he's still affectionate to me." He paused and smiled. "Maybe he doesn't want people to know that," he said. "But I'll tell you, because it's my interview."

Mr. Dylan's refusal to speak about his father has sometimes been interpreted as a sign of tension between them, which is another reason he has broken his silence. However complicated it has been to be Bob Dylan's son, Mr. Dylan loves and admires both the man and his music. Andrew Slater, the president of Capitol Records and formerly the Wallflowers' manager, was initially surprised that Mr. Dylan would listen to his father's songs as the band traveled in its van. "I finally found the right moment to ask him," Mr. Slater said. "I said, 'Jakob, what goes through your mind when you listen to your father's records?' He said, 'When I'm listening to 'Subterranean Homesick Blues,' I'm grooving along just like you. But when I'm listening to 'Blood on the Tracks,' that's about my parents.' I never asked him again."