Robert John Neuwirth

Robert John Neuwirth was born in Akron, Ohio, and studied art in Boston and Paris before plunging into the vibrant Cambridge and Greenwich Village folk scenes of the early 1960s. A razor-sharp wit and magnetic presence, he became Bob Dylan's close friend and road manager, memorably featured at Dylan's side baiting journalists in D.A. Pennebaker's iconic 1965 documentary Don't Look Back.

Neuwirth had an immense behind-the-scenes influence on 1960s and 1970s rock history: he introduced Janis Joplin to Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" and co-wrote Joplin's satirical a cappella classic "Mercedes Benz" with her at a bar in Port Chester, New York, in 1970. In 1975, Neuwirth helped assemble the freewheeling ensemble for Dylan's historic Rolling Thunder Revue, and later produced and recorded acclaimed solo records including Havana Midnight and Last Day on Earth with John Cale.