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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Janelle Borg

“You really rip it, man”: How Bob Dylan championed mgk – forming an unlikely friendship and artistic collaboration

Left-Bob Dylan performing on MTV unplugged at the Sony Music Studio in New York City on November 18, 1994; Right-mgk performs On NBC's "Today" at Rockefeller Plaza on June 20, 2025 in New York City.

mgk (formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly) might not be the first artist you think of when anointing a contemporary guitarist with the title of “guitar savior”.

However, the genre-hopping artist's departure from rap in favor of a more pop-punk and rock aesthetic has earned him a number of fans in the guitar world, including Polyphia's Tim Henson, who gave mgk a shoutout for making “guitar cool again.” Now, his latest fan is, perhaps unexpectedly, Bob Dylan.

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