There’s something about seeing the place where it all began. Today I got to tour Bob Dylan’s childhood home at 2425 7th Ave E, Hibbing Minnesota today with the current owner, archivist and collector Bill Pagel.

Highlights were listening to early rock n roll records from Bob’s collection on Bob’s own record player and seeing the piano where he pounded out Little Richard songs as a teenager. Drawings on record covers, lyric manuscripts, and even carved initials in the walls reveal Bob’s ambition and intention to make a contribution to the world of music he loved.

Reminds me that you never know what these kids around you are going to do. We gotta encourage them to follow their dreams and nurture their passions and interests.
The kid who walked to high school out these doors in 1959 (whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Lithuania and Ukraine) later won the Nobel Prize in Literature for creating new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.


His songs helped teach me how to write songs and I’m grateful. And when you’re grateful, you’re happy.

Thanks Bill Pagel for taking great care of the house and sharing it with us.


And thanks to Dave Hoekstra for writing a story on Hibbing that encouraged me to go take a look.
Downtown Hibbing, Minnesota




The iron mine north of town

