{"id":490285,"date":"2019-09-19T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=886719"},"modified":"2019-09-19T06:00:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T12:00:47","slug":"bob-dylans-bootleg-series-to-tackle-1969-johnny-cash-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/bob-dylans-bootleg-series-to-tackle-1969-johnny-cash-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Dylan\u2019s Bootleg Series to Tackle 1969 Johnny Cash Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BobDylanJohnnyCash.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>In February 1969, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bob-dylan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bob-dylan\" data-tag=\"bob-dylan\">Bob Dylan<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/johnny-cash\/\" id=\"auto-tag_johnny-cash\" data-tag=\"johnny-cash\">Johnny Cash<\/a> holed up in a Nashville studio for two days of loose, free-flowing sessions where they sang each other\u2019s songs, jammed with rockabilly icon Carl Perkins, broke into spontaneous covers like \u201cMystery Train\u201d and \u201cYou Are My Sunshine\u201d and even wrote the the tune \u201cWanted Man\u201d that Cash would debut at San Quentin prison just one week later. Their duet on \u201cGirl From the North Country\u201d appeared on Dylan\u2019s LP <em>Nashville Skyline<\/em> later that April and select tracks from the sessions leaked out into the bootleg world over the years, but much of this material has never been heard anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>That will change on November 1st with the release of <em>Bob Dylan (Featuring Johnny Cash) \u2014 Travelin\u2019 Thru, 1967\u20131969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15.<\/em> The three-CD package devotes a disc-and-a-half to the legendary Johnny Cash sessions, but it also has outtakes from the 1967 <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> sessions and <em>Nashville Skyline<\/em> sessions that have never been bootlegged, along with a couple of Johnny Cash covers recorded for <em>Self Portrait<\/em> in 1970, the soundtrack to Dylan\u2019s 1969 appearance on <em>The Johnny Cash Show,<\/em> and selections from Dylan\u2019s 1970 home recording session with bluegrass great Earl Scruggs and members of his family. (Check out this preview of \u201cI Pity the Poor Immigrant\u201d from the <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> sessions.)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Dfsln3Zl-U8?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBesides the very early folk years, you don\u2019t have Bob playing with a lot of other major stars up until this point in his career,\u201d says a source close to the Dylan camp. \u201cHere you have him doing duets with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Earl Scruggs. It\u2019s a really deep dive into some of the music that he loves and just a really cool package. I think people will come away from it enchanted by the breadth of his catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> session have been a source of deep fascination with Dylan fans for decades. Not only have the outtakes never leaked out to the bootleg community, but the whole thing was made in just three days and he\u2019s never talked about the songwriting process in any depth. None of the songs have choruses (unlike other works from this era) and he didn\u2019t attempt a single one of them with the Band while they worked on <em>The Basement Tapes<\/em> in this same time period. \u201c1967 was a very creative time period for Bob and you get the feeling he could have written them in the car ride down to Nashville,\u201d says the source. \u201cWho knows?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are just seven <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> outtakes in this new collection. \u201cThere just doesn\u2019t seem to be many alternate versions of the songs,\u201d says the source. \u201cThe ones we have are often very similar to each other. We had to include \u2018All Along the Watchtower,\u2019 but it\u2019s not like \u2018All Along the Watchtower\u2019 cha-cha or anything. But \u2018I Pity the Poor Immigrant\u2019 is great and has a completely different melody. I don\u2019t think anything had more than three complete takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(The European copyrights for the <em>John Wesley Harding<\/em> sessions have expired since they are being released after the 50-year copyright-protection window closed. That has no impact on the publishing rights, but it is technically legal for anybody to release these seven outtakes on physical sets in Europe. \u201cI\u2019m sure they will appear on grey market collections,\u201d says the source. \u201cBut people don\u2019t really buy records anymore, so it doesn\u2019t make much of a difference.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><em>Nashville Skyline<\/em> was recorded across eight days in February 1969, but roughly half of the session tapes have been lost. \u201cThere was an engineer who had taken some of the tapes home and put them in a storage locker,\u201d says the source. \u201cSomeone later bought them for a couple of grand and Sony had to buy the tapes back. Most of what we have comes from the storage locker, but the rest were lost. From the best we can tell, they are just gone. That is unusual [in relation to the rest of the Dylan catalog, which has been carefully preserved], and I think it\u2019s just because nobody in Nashville was paying attention. They weren\u2019t thinking about future reissues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the tapes that survive offer a fascinating glimpse into the making of <em>Nashville Skyline<\/em>. There are alternative versions of songs like \u201cOne More Night,\u201d \u201cPeggy Day,\u201d and \u201cCountry Pie\u201d that are quite different than their album counterparts. \u201cEveryone always talks about the Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles,\u201d says the source. \u201cThe players in Nashville from this time don\u2019t get enough love. Wayne Moss played on <em>Blonde on Blonde<\/em> and now three years later he\u2019s playing on \u2018Country Pie.\u2019 These guys could do anything and make it sound funky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aZK0ZohW2d8?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>None of the Johnny Cash sessions were lost and they form the heart of <em>Travelin\u2019 Thru.<\/em> June Carter Cash was in the studio those two days and she can be heard suggesting they dust off Dylan\u2019s 1963\u2019s classic \u201cGirl From the North Country,\u201d which he hadn\u2019t played in five years. \u201cBob goes, \u2018I like that, I just don\u2019t really remember it,&#8217;\u201d says the source. \u201cI think he only remembered one verse. We included that conversation. And every time Carl Perkins takes a solo, Johnny Cash says, \u2018Carl Perkins, everybody!\u2019 It\u2019s so cool. If Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis were the Million Dollar Quartet, this is the $750,000 Trio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Dylan obsessives, the single most interesting song on the set will probably be \u201cWanted Man.\u201d There are numerous versions of Johnny Cash performing the song over the years, but nobody has ever heard Dylan sing any of it. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the words together, so they\u2019re making the words up on the spot as they go along,\u201d says the source. \u201cYou can hear June say, \u2018Johnny, you need to get that \u2018Wanted Man\u2019 from Bob so you know the melody of it.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y8jF53q7vWA?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The set also contains Dylan and Cash duetting on \u201cOne Too Many Mornings,\u201d \u201cMatchbox,\u201d \u201cRing of Fire,\u201d and two medleys of Jimmie Rodgers songs. \u201cThey are just singing Jimmie Rodgers song off the top of their heads,\u201d says the source. \u201cJohnny starts, Bob joins in. It\u2019s just two guys relaxing in the studio and having fun. That\u2019s what we tried to focus on. We wanted to focus on the fun they were having.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the sake of completion, the set also has Dylan and Cash singing \u201cI Threw It All Away,\u201d \u201cLiving the Blues,\u201d and \u201cGirl From the North Country\u201d from <em>The Johnny Cash Show<\/em> in June 1969 along with \u201cRing of Fire\u201d and \u201cFolsom Prison Blues\u201d that Dylan sang on his own during the <em>Self Portrait<\/em> sessions on May 3rd, 1969.<\/p>\n<p>The set ends with four songs that Dylan played with Earl Scruggs at the Carmel, New York, home of album-cover illustrator Thomas B. Allen on May 17th, 1970. The songs (\u201cEast Virginia Blues,\u201d \u201cTo Be Alone With You,\u201d \u201cHoney, Just Allow Me One More Chance,\u201d and \u201cNashville Skyline Rag\u201d) were intended for the 1971 documentary <em>Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends<\/em> along with its accompanying album <em>Earl Scruggs Performing With His Family and Friends.<\/em> \u201cIt\u2019s a little outside of our chronology,\u201d says the source. \u201cBut to us, it put a nice bookend on the set. They sound really relaxed and there\u2019s a very nice, casual feeling to all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BfHLYIms97A?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Future plans for the Bootleg Series are unclear, but a <em>Time Out of Mind<\/em> set and one that chronicles Dylan\u2019s pre-fame folk period in Minnesota and New York are both in contention. \u201cWe\u2019ve collected all these early tapes of him like the Minnesota Hotel Tapes and all the tapes that Tony Glover recorded,\u201d says the source. \u201cWe have all these things in beautiful quality along with the Town Hall concert [in 1963] and the Carnegie Hall concert [in 1963]. Some day we\u2019ll put these all together and put them out, but it\u2019s not like people are clamoring for it. There are probably a few other areas to explore before that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are no immediate plans to end the Bootleg Series, but the steep decline in the market for physical product does put its future in some jeopardy. \u201cWe have to also see how long people keep buying these things,\u201d says the source. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens. Right now, there\u2019s a certain amount of physical that still gets sold, so we\u2019d like to keep doing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here is the complete track listing for <em>Travelin\u2019 Thru, 1967\u20131969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>DISC 1<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">October 17, 1967<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>John Wesley Harding sessions<br \/>01. Drifter\u2019s Escape \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>02. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine \u2013&nbsp;Take 2 (Alternate Version)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">November 6, 1967<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>John Wesley Harding sessions<br \/>03. All Along the Watchtower \u2013 Take 3 (Alternate Version)<br \/>04. John Wesley Harding \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>05. As I Went Out One Morning \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>06. I Pity the Poor Immigrant \u2013 Take 4 (Alternate Version)<br \/>07. I Am a Lonesome Hobo \u2013 Take 4 (Alternate Version)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica<br \/>Charlie McCoy: bass<br \/>Kenneth Buttrey: drums<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">February 13, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>Nashville Skyline sessions<br \/>08. I Threw It All Away \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>09. To Be Alone with You \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>10. Lay Lady Lay \u2013 Take 2 (Alternate Version)<br \/>11. One More Night \u2013 Take 2 (Alternate Version)<br \/>12. Western Road \u2013 Take 1 (Outtake)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">February 14, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>Nashville Skyline sessions<br \/>13. Peggy Day \u2013 Take 1 (Alternate Version)<br \/>14. Tell Me That It Isn\u2019t True \u2013 Take 2 (Alternate Version)<br \/>15. Country Pie \u2013&nbsp;Take 2 (Alternate Version)<\/p>\n<p>Bob Dylan \u2013 vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica<br \/>Kelton D. Herston, Norman Blake, Charlie Daniels, Wayne Moss (10 &amp; 12): guitars<br \/>Bob Wilson: piano, organ<br \/>Peter Drake: steel guitar (13-15)<br \/>Charlie McCoy: bass<br \/>Kenneth Buttrey: drums<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>DISC 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span>February 17, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>The Dylan-Cash Sessions<br \/>01. I Still Miss Someone \u2013 Take 5<br \/>02. Don\u2019t Think Twice, It\u2019s All Right\/Understand Your Man \u2013&nbsp;Rehearsal<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">February 18, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>The Dylan-Cash Sessions<br \/>03. One Too Many Mornings \u2013 Take 3<br \/>04. Mountain Dew \u2013 Take 1<br \/>05. Mountain Dew \u2013 Take 2<br \/>06. I Still Miss Someone \u2013 Take 2<br \/>07. Careless Love \u2013 Take 1<br \/>08. Matchbox \u2013 Take 1<br \/>09. That\u2019s All Right, Mama \u2013 Take 1<br \/>10. Mystery Train\/This Train Is Bound for Glory \u2013 Take 1<br \/>11. Big River \u2013 Take 1<br \/>12. Girl from the North Country \u2013 Rehearsal<br \/>13. Girl from the North Country \u2013 Take 1<br \/>14. I Walk the Line \u2013 Take 2<br \/>15. Guess Things Happen That Way \u2013 Rehearsal<br \/>16. Guess Things Happen That Way \u2013 Take 3<br \/>17. Five Feet High and Rising \u2013 Take 1<br \/>18. You Are My Sunshine \u2013 Take 1<br \/>19. Ring of Fire \u2013 Take 1<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>DISC 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>February 18, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>The Dylan-Cash Sessions<br \/>01. Studio Chatter<br \/>02. Wanted Man \u2013 Take 1<br \/>03. Amen \u2013 Rehearsal<br \/>04. Just a Closer Walk with Thee \u2013 Take 1<br \/>05. Jimmie Rodgers Medley No. 1 \u2013 Take 1<br \/>Based on Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas), The Brakeman\u2019s Blues (Yodeling the Blues Away), and Blue Yodel No. 5 (It\u2019s Raining Here) written by Jimmie Rodgers<br \/>06. Jimmie Rodgers Medley No. 2 \u2013 Take 2<br \/>Based on Waiting for a Train, The Brakeman\u2019s Blues (Yodeling the Blues Away), and Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) written by Jimmie Rodgers<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar<br \/>Johnny Cash: vocals, guitar<br \/>Carl Perkins: guitar (08, 10, 02, 04-06)<br \/>Bob Wootton: guitar<br \/>Marshall Grant: bass<br \/>W.S. Holland: drums<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">May 1, 1969<br \/>Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN<br \/>Live on The Johnny Cash Show<br \/>Originally broadcast on ABC-TV, June 7, 1969<br \/>07. I Threw It All Away<br \/>08. Living the Blues<br \/>09. Girl from the North Country<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar<br \/>Johnny Cash: vocals, guitar (09)<br \/>Norman Blake and Charlie Daniels: guitars<br \/>Peter Drake: steel guitar<br \/>Bob Wilson: piano<br \/>Charlie McCoy: bass<br \/>Kenneth Buttrey: drums<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">May 3, 1969<br \/>Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN<br \/>Self Portrait sessions<br \/>10. Ring of Fire (Outtake)<br \/>11. Folsom Prison Blues (Outtake)<\/p>\n<p>Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar<br \/>Fred F. Carter, Norman Blake: guitars<br \/>Charlie Daniels: guitar (11), bass (10)<br \/>Bob Wilson: piano<br \/>Peter Drake: steel guitar<br \/>Charlie McCoy: harmonica (10), bass (11)<br \/>Kenneth Buttrey: drums<br \/>Delores Edgin and Dottie Dillard: background vocals<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">May 17, 1970<br \/>The Home of Thomas B. Allen, Carmel, New York<br \/>With Earl Scruggs<br \/>12. Earl Scruggs Interview<br \/>13. East Virginia Blues<br \/>14. To Be Alone with You<br \/>15. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance<br \/>16. Nashville Skyline Rag<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar<br \/>Earl Scruggs: banjo<br \/>Randy Scruggs: acoustic guitar<br \/>Gary Scruggs: electric bass<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bob-dylan-bootleg-series-johnny-cash-nashville-skyline-john-wesley-harding-886719\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In February 1969, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash holed up in a Nashville studio for two days of loose, free-flowing sessions where they sang each other\u2019s songs, jammed with rockabilly icon Carl Perkins, broke into spontaneous covers like \u201cMystery Train\u201d and \u201cYou Are My Sunshine\u201d and even wrote the the tune \u201cWanted Man\u201d that Cash [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-music-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-21 12:12:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}