Robert Hilburn, who was pop music critic and pop music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 to 2005, is one of the most widely read and respected pop writers of the rock 'n' roll era. His reviews and artist profiles have appeared in hundreds of publications around the world. Hilburn, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination committee, has interviewed and written extensively about every significant musician of our time, from John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen to U2 and Eminem. He was the only writer to accompany Johnny Cash on his landmark Folsom Prison concert as well as the only writer invited to join Paul Simon on the "Graceland" tour stop in Zimbabwe, Elton John when he became the first Western rock star to play the Soviet Union, and Bob Dylan on his first concert swing in Israel. Hilburn's 2004 interview with Dylan about the songwriting process was called "legendary" by England's Mojo magazine. His frst book, "Bruce Springsteen," was published by Rolling Stone/Scribners and a Los Angeles Times best-seller. He, too, has had has had columns printed in book retrospectives on Dylan, Springsteen, Cash, U2 and R.E.M. He is now working on a social, cultural and intellectual history of rock 'n' roll.