Bob Dylan appearing on “The Johnny Cash Show” ABC/TV Taped at Ryman Auditorium, June 7, 1969 in Nashville, Tennessee. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

In April 1969, Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record his ninth studio album. It would be his third time recording there with local session pros and producer Bob Johnston, but this time it would be different: Unlike the “thin, wild mercury sound” of 1966’s Blonde on Blonde and the ominous acoustic folk of 1967’s John Wesley Harding , his next LP would be a traditional country record. He called it Nashville Skyline . While experimental bands like New York’s Velvet Underground and San Francisco’s Grateful Dead were pushing boundaries in music, Dylan had been secluded in Woodstock , New York, focusing on his growing family and paying little attention to new musical trends. He ended up once again subverting audience expectations and delivering an album no one was anticipating. “These are the type of songs that I always felt like writing when I’ve been alone to do so,” he told Newsweek . “The songs reflect more of the inner me than the songs of the past.” Nashville Skyline marked a stark change in Dylan’s vocals: […]

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