Dylan’s Disguise Keeps Fans Guessing at Newport Festival

In 1965, the talk of the Newport Folk Festival was Bob Dylan plugging in. In 2002, the crowd conversation was about the rock troubadour wigging out.

The 1960s icon inspired head-scratching and studied speculation among his fans on Saturday when he made a triumphant return to the famous festival in a get-up that seemed like one of Dana Carvey’s castoffs from “The Master of Disguise.” The western wear and white cowboy hat were fine, but what was up with the long, stringy wig and fake beard?

“There’s nothing I can tell you,” one of Dylan’s confidants said Tuesday, refusing to even confirm that it was fake hair. When asked if Dylan had the brown, shoulder-length locks the night before the show, the longtime associate laughed and said, “No, he didn’t.”

Entire bookshelves are devoted to the cryptic Dylan’s art and mind, so it’s no surprise that fan Web sites have been buzzing with speculation about why the master songwriter sought, as the Boston Globe described it, “a Hasidic cowboy look.” Some thought Dylan was deflating the hype built up over his Newport return; others guessed it was a preview of his look in the film “Masked & Anonymous.”

“No, he’s done with the principal photography on the movie; this didn’t have anything to do with that,” said the Dylan associate, who asked not to be identified. “Beyond that, there’s not a lot I can tell you.”

Geoff Boucher