 In the middle of that year , Dylan wrote a ballad <unk> boxer Rubin " Hurricane " Carter , imprisoned for a triple murder in Paterson , New Jersey , in 1966 . After visiting Carter in jail , Dylan wrote " Hurricane " , presenting the case for Carter 's innocence . Despite its length — over eight minutes — the song was released as a single , peaking at 33 on the U.S. Billboard chart , and performed at every 1975 date of Dylan 's next tour , the Rolling Thunder Revue . The tour featured about one hundred performers and supporters from the Greenwich Village folk scene , including T @-@ Bone <unk> , Ramblin ' Jack Elliott , Joni Mitchell , David Mansfield , Roger <unk> , Mick <unk> , Joan Baez , and Scarlet Rivera , whom Dylan discovered walking down the street , her violin case on her back . Allen Ginsberg accompanied the troupe , staging scenes for the film Dylan was shooting . Sam Shepard was hired to write the screenplay , but ended up accompanying the tour as informal chronicler . 
