A great writer is gone. Sam Shepard will be remembered for many plays as well as acting roles. And he should be remembered too for his collaboration with Bob Dylan on what is one of the latter's most stunning pieces of poetry/music: 'Brownsville Girl'.
'Brownsville Girl', with its tumultuous imagery of life on the road mixed up with movie references and an impenetrably mysterious plot, was the high point on a humdrum album called 'Knocked Out Loaded' and one of Dylan's finest moments.
Much of the credit should go to Shepard for inspiring Dylan's tour de force, and for the feeling the song conveyed of a lost and decaying America.
Shepard also memorably travelled with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder review tour and published the diary that he kept during those momentous days and nights.
He was never starstruck, but in his own quiet way Shepard was a genuine star.
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