Machine Gun Kelly has officially confirmed the obvious — that it was Bob Dylan narrating his recent album announcement trailer. But in Dylan-esque fashion, MGK declined to give a straight answer as to how the collaboration came about.
When asked point blank about Dylan’s cameo on Today, MGK quipped, “A magician never reveals his secrets.” He then continued with something resembling an answer, but still clearly jokey: “Pure desperation. Just knocking on his door relentlessly, not going away.”
That’s not to say Machine Gun Kelly wasn’t extremely grateful for Dylan’s contribution to the Lost Americana trailer. “I have been blessed with… I don’t know, maybe it’s just one pioneer seeing something that I am doing that, in the long term, will be looked back [at] and be understood,” MGK said, before quickly adding: “Not calling myself a pioneer, but him.”
Despite not knowing many specifics, it is possible to paint a pretty broad picture of the MGK-Dylan relationship. Earlier this year, Dylan, seemingly out of nowhere, posted on a video on Instagram of MGK rapping at a record store. One (very believable) theory as to how the singer-songwriter stumbled across the clip in the first place was floated by Dylan scholar Ray Padgett, who suggested on Bluesky, “All because the dude has the same name as an old gangster Bob was googling.”
Then in May, evidence emerged of an in-person meeting when MGK attended the Los Angeles stop of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Festival Tour, which Dylan is a part of. The day after the show, MGK tweeted not-so-cryptically, “i met and had a conversation with someone last night that i never thought i’d get the honor to meet all because of a video of me rapping in a music store 10 years ago. i love music.”
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MGK released the Lost Americana trailer earlier this month. The clip features a montage of home movie-style footage, with Dylan delivering koans such as, “Lost Americana is a personal excavation of the American dream — a journey to find what’s been lost” and, “From the gold neon diners to the rumble of the motorcycles, this is music that celebrates the beauty found in the in-between spaces. Where the past is reimagined and the future is forged on your own terms.”
Lost Americana is set to arrive Aug. 8. The album marks MGK’s first in three years following 2022’s Mainstream Sellout. The musician has yet to reveal the full track list for the album, but it will feature his recent single, “Cliché.”
