The new Bob Dylan

Wow, some of the responses to this thread make it sound as though there's no hope for music. Do you guys just keep listening to the same stuff over and over again? There's no more inspiration for young minds? I invite you to search for the commencement speech Annie Lennox gave at Berklee College of Music in Boston last weekend. It's very inspiring. I'm sure these young adults would tend to disagree with the assumption that its over. In the grand scheme of things, maybe it's just begun.

Thanks for the post Todd.

I think there's plenty of hope for music. I've lived most of my life in two towns with plenty of way-off mainstream, experimental artists and have played with a few myself.
I just don't think there's hope for labeling a deserving artist as the "new" this or that. And, again, "the new Bob Dylans" have been showing up for over forty years, that's all I'm saying. It's a lazy and inaccurate thing to do and it's a disservice to both the older artist and the younger.

That said, the youngest artists I work with are 12 and 14 and all they want to play is swing and western swing. Nothing wrong with that either. Another young student of mine never wanted to play anything other than Bluegrass. He got a double degree (guitar and mandolin) at Berklee. There's a lot of ways to slice it.

If the music is good is doesn't matter if it's traditional or fresh and inventive in some way. If it's good it's good, if it's bad it's bad.

Well said, Tostadosunidos.

well,if he is the new Dylan,who is the new Beatles?
That is quite a burden to have to carry being the new...
Springsteen was also the new Dylan in the beginning...

Is there a new Mozart or Wagner? Of course not. A new Dylan or Beatles? never. Society different. Exposure different (everyone listened to 2 or 3 stations). Generation gap. Fashion. Musical tastes too fractured. I could go on and on. The formative years of modern pop/rock were the 50s. The maturation and expansion to all genres was the 60s/early 70s. A new artist simply cannot have the same impact on the world mainly because the circumstances do not exist to do so.
The Beatles and Dylan were the most talented and prolific artists of the past 50 years and I'm sure their influence will be felt for many years to come. But I can't listen to them every day. So we must soldier on and there's plenty of music that is great and worth listening to today.
Had the Beatles and Dylan come of age today, they could not be the Beatles or Dylan. For those of us who grew up on them, it is to our great fortune that they came when they did and changed our lives and the world.
Let's never hear of the "new" Dylan again. Let's hear about a guy who is talented in a style reminiscent of Dylan.