Bob Neuwirth

Robert John Neuwirth (June 20, 1939May 18, 2022) was an American folk singer, songwriter, record producer, and visual artist. He was noted for being the road manager and associate of Bob Dylan, as well as the co-writer of Janis Joplin's hit song "Mercedes Benz".

Neuwirth was portrayed by Will Harrison in the 2024 film ''A Complete Unknown''.

Early life

Neuwirth was born in Akron, Ohio, on June 20, 1939. His father, Robert, was employed as an engineer; his mother, Clara Irene (Fischer), worked as a design engineer. Neuwirth first started painting when he was seven years old. He initially studied at Ohio University, before moving to Boston in 1959 when he was awarded an arts scholarship to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. After dropping out of college, he briefly relocated to Paris and took up the banjo, guitar, and harmonica during this time. This eventually paved the way to the folk scene of the early 1960s in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also went busking with Ramblin' Jack Elliott during his sojourn in the French capital. Neuwirth later went back to Boston and was employed at an art supply store.

Career

Neuwirth first met Bob Dylan in 1961, at the inaugural Indian Neck Folk Festival held in Branford, Connecticut. He soon became Dylan's friend and associate, as well as his road manager. Neuwirth consequently accompanied Dylan on his England tour in 1965, the Newport Folk Festival that same year that saw the Electric Dylan controversy, and featured alongside him in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary ''Dont Look Back'' (1967). Neuwirth pulled back from Dylan's circle after the latter's motorcycle accident in 1966 and subsequent withdrawal from public life. However, he returned in time to help assemble the backing band for the Rolling Thunder Revue tour ten years later. He also appeared in Dylan's own self-referential romantic fantasy/tour film ''Renaldo and Clara'' (1978). The lower half of him appears behind Dylan in Daniel Kramer's front cover photo for the album ''Highway 61 Revisited''. He also intended to do a film with Edie Sedgwick, whom he introduced to Dylan in 1965, before her death in 1971.

With Janis Joplin and poet Michael McClure, Neuwirth co-wrote the song "Mercedes Benz" in August 1970, while improvising during a drinking session at a bar in Port Chester, New York. He scribbled the lyrics onto a napkin, which Joplin sang at her Capitol Theatre show that same night and then recorded a cappella just three days before she died. Neuwirth also introduced Kris Kristofferson to Joplin, who would have a major posthumous hit single with Kristofferson's song "Me and Bobby McGee", which Neuwirth first played for Joplin. Colin Irwin wrote:

Painter, road manager, sidekick, confidante, henchman, poet, underground cult hero, womanizer, party organizer, self-appointed king of cool, and baiter-in-chief of Baez, Donovan, and any other unfortunate who wound up in the line of fire of his sledgehammer jibes, Neuwirth went on to become a film-maker and a credible singer-songwriter in his own right, co-writing the wonderful "Mercedes Benz" with his friend Janis Joplin.

After relocating to Los Angeles during the 1970s, Neuwirth released his debut album ''Bob Neuwirth'' (1974) with Asylum Records. Although it included guest artists such as Kris Kristofferson, Booker T. Jones, Rita Coolidge, Chris Hillman, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield, Don Everly, Richie Furay, and Iain Matthews, it was not commercially successful, in part because he declined to publicize it extensively. The album eventually became a cult favorite and a proposal to reissue it was in place at the time of Neuwirth's death. Fourteen years later, he released his second album, ''Back to the Front'', which was received more positively by critics. His following album, a collaboration with John Cale titled '' Last Day on Earth'' (1994), was described by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "ambitious, experimental and doom-laden". While embarking on a national tour of the U.S., he recorded his next solo album, '' Look Up'' (1996), at the residences of friends such as Patti Smith, Bernie Leadon, and Elliott Murphy. He subsequently travelled to Havana

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