Nashville Skyline
Encyclopedia
Nashville Skyline is singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's ninth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

, released by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 in April 1969.

The album marked a dramatic departure for Dylan, previously known for his groundbreaking, poetic folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

. Nashville Skyline, building on a rustic style he experimented with on John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding (album)
John Wesley Harding is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's eighth studio album, released by Columbia Records in December 1967.Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music...

, displayed a complete immersion into country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

. Along with the more basic themes, simple songwriting structures, and charming domestic feel, it introduced audiences to a radically new singing voice from Dylan — a soft, affected country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 croon
Crooner
Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use...

.

The result received mostly positive reaction from critics, and was a commercial success. Reaching number 3 in the US, the album also scored Dylan his fourth UK number 1 album.

Context

As he would later write, by 1969, Dylan was growing more frustrated by his lack of privacy. Relocating his family failed to deter fans from intruding on his property and he became increasingly wary of how other residents viewed him. "The neighbors hated us", Dylan recalled. "To them, it must've seemed like I was something out of a carnival show."

To his chagrin, the press continued to promote him as the spokesman of his generation. "I wasn't the toastmaster of any generation", Dylan wrote, "and that notion needed to be pulled up by its roots."

Recording sessions

In February 1969, Dylan returned to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 to begin work on Nashville Skyline. It had been over a year since his last album, John Wesley Harding, was released, and it had been fifteen months since he produced that album, the last time he was in a recording studio. Many of the Nashville area studio musicians appearing on this album later became the core of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry
Barefoot Jerry
Barefoot Jerry is an American Southern rock and country rock band, based in Nashville, Tennessee, most active from 1971 to 1977. It was composed of area studio musicians under the tutelage of Wayne Moss, lead guitarist of Area Code 615, and other 615 alumni. This name is also used to refer to Moss...

.

Dylan held sessions at Columbia's Studio A, scheduling the first on February 12, but there is no record of any work from that first session. A second session held the following day produced master takes of "To Be Alone With You", "I Threw It All Away", and "One More Night." Dylan also made several attempts at "Lay Lady Lay
Lay Lady Lay
"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...

"; as with "I Threw It All Away", "Lay Lady Lay" was written in 1968, one of the few songs written by Dylan that year.

The songs on Nashville Skyline were very relaxed with modest ambitions, something reflected in the studio work ethic. "We just take a song, I play it and everyone else just sort of fills in behind it", Dylan recalls. "At the same time you're doing that, there's someone in the control booth who's turning all those dials to where the proper sound is coming in."

Dylan was also singing with a soft, smooth, country-tinged croon, and many listeners were startled by this 'new' voice. Dylan attributed it to a break from cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

s, but a number of friends and family members were able to draw a connection between his 'new' voice and the one he used while performing at the Ten O' Clock Scholar in Minneapolis and the Purple Onion pizza parlor in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

, during the winter and spring of 1960.

Master takes for "Peggy Day", "Tell Me That It Isn't True", "Country Pie" and "Lay Lady Lay" were completed on February 14. During the two-day break that followed, Dylan penned another song, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You."

When sessions resumed on February 17, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" was the primary focus, and a master take was selected from a total of eleven takes. An instrumental, titled "Nashville Skyline Rag", was also recorded at the beginning of the session, and it was later included on the album.

Sometime during that session, country legend Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

 stopped by to visit. A friend and label-mate of Dylan's as well as an early supporter of his music, Cash had been recording next door with his own band. The two wound up recording a series of duets, covering Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings
One Too Many Mornings
"One Too Many Mornings" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin in 1964. The chords and vocal melody are in some places very similar to the song "The Times They Are A-Changin'". "One Too Many Mornings" is in the key of C Major and is fingerpicked...

" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.-Context:...

"
as well as Cash's own "I Still Miss Someone." None of these were deemed usable, but Cash returned the following day to record more duets.

The session on February 18 was devoted exclusively to duet covers with Cash. "One Too Many Mornings" and "I Still Miss Someone" were revisited, and rejected, yet again. "Matchbox
Matchbox (song)
"Matchbox" is a rock and roll and rockabilly song written by Carl Perkins and first recorded by him at Sun Records in December 1956 and released on February 11, 1957 as a 45 single on Sun Records. It has become one of Perkins' best-known recordings...

", "That's All Right Mama", "Mystery Train
Mystery Train
"Mystery Train" is a song written by Junior Parker and Sam Phillips. It was first recorded in Phillip's Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee in 1953. Raymond Hill plays tenor sax and Matt Murphy plays lead guitar with Bill Johnson on piano, Pat Hare on...

", "Big River
Big River (Johnny Cash song)
"Big River" is a song written and originally recorded by Johnny Cash. Released as a single by Sun Records in 1958, it went as high as #4 on the Billboard country music charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks...

", "I Walk the Line
I Walk the Line
"I Walk the Line" is a song written by Johnny Cash and recorded in 1956. It was performed with the help of Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins, two mechanics that his brother introduced him to following his discharge from the Air Force. Cash and his wife, Vivian, were living in Memphis, Tennessee,...

", and "Guess Things Happen That Way
Guess Things Happen That Way
"Guess Things Happen That Way" is a 1958 cross over single by Johnny Cash, which was written by Jack Clement. The single, a song about "a man struggling .....

", all made famous by celebrated Sun
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...

 recordings performed by Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...

, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, and Cash himself, were all attempted on February 18, but none of these were deemed usable. Covers of Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...

' "Blue Yodel #1" and "#5", Cash's "Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire (song)
"Ring of Fire" or "The Ring of Fire" is a country music song popularized by Johnny Cash and co-written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore. The single appears on Cash's 1963 compilation album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash...

" (written by his wife, June Carter and Merle Kilgore
Merle Kilgore
Wyatt Merle Kilgore was an American singer, songwriter, and manager.-Early life:Although born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, Merle Kilgore was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the son of Wyatt and Gladys B. Kilgore...

), "You Are My Sunshine
You Are My Sunshine
"You Are My Sunshine" is a popular song first recorded in 1939. It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana as a result of its association with former state governor and country music singer Jimmie Davis. The song is copyright 1940 Peer International Corporation, words and music by...

", "Good Old Mountain Dew
Good Old Mountain Dew
"Good Old Mountain Dew" – sometimes called simply "Mountain Dew" – is a song composed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. In addition to being a folklorist, Mr. Lunsford was a lawyer, who defended clients in criminal cases involving moonshining. The original refers to traditional blind trading methods of...

", the traditional ballad "Careless Love
Careless Love
"Careless Love" is a traditional song of obscure origins.Blues versions are popular; the lyrics change from version to version, but usually speak of the heartbreak brought on by "careless love." Frequently, the narrator threatens to kill his or her wayward lover.The song's melody also is used in...

", the traditional hymn "Just a Closer Walk with Thee", "Five feet high and rising", and "Wanted Man" (a song written by Dylan specifically for Cash) were also attempted, and all were rejected. There was little enthusiasm for any of these tracks, but one duet of Dylan's, "Girl from the North Country
Girl from the North Country
"Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was first released in 1963 as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in 1969. That recording became the first track on Nashville Skyline,...

" (which originally appeared on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies....

), was ultimately sequenced as the album's opener.

With primary recording complete, three more overdub sessions were held on February 19, 20, and 21. After these sessions were completed, acetate pressings were made for a preliminary sequence to Nashville Skyline. Originally a nine-track, twenty-three minute program, Dylan ultimately kept this sequence intact with one significant amendment, adding "Girl from the North Country" as the opening cut.

Songs

Unlike other country-rock excursions, like The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

' landmark Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...

, Nashville Skyline was rooted far more in modern country than in rural folk music. By 1969, the country music establishment was following popular trends, moving away from its roots and closer to mainstream pop. Nashville Skyline was a reflection of this, complete with a number of clichés associated with the genre.

The album begins with a new version of "Girl from the North Country", Dylan's duet with Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

. A close friend of Dylan's since their meeting at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...

, Cash also wrote the Grammy-winning album notes for the album. One verse ("Many times I've often prayed/In the darkness of my night") is also deleted in this performance.

"Peggy Day", "Country Pie", and "Nashville Skyline Rag" are perhaps the humblest recordings on Nashville Skyline. Upbeat and uptempo, lyrically they have little ambition ("Nashville Skyline Rag" is actually an instrumental), but the recordings center on the performances, not the words. This became more apparent many years later when Dylan used "Country Pie" as a live, improvisational showcase in the early 2000s.

"'Tell Me That It Isn't True' is the voice of a suspicious man who promises himself he'll take his woman's word for her fidelity, all the time denying the 'rumors all over town' that she's 'been seen with some other man,'" writes NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

's Tim Riley. "Dylan gives it a forced sincerity of someone who can't help deceiving himself, and the song catches a quiet terror."

"Lay Lady Lay
Lay Lady Lay
"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...

" turned out to be one of Dylan's biggest pop hits, reaching #7 in the US, and giving him his biggest single in three years. "Lay Lady Lay" was originally written for the film Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...

, but Dylan did not deliver it in time for it to be included in the score. He was initially reluctant to authorize the single's release, but eventually approved at the insistence of Columbia president Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

.

"Sometimes... I go to the artist and say, 'What do you hear on the drums?' Because sometimes when people write songs they can hear it completed, they hear everything they think's gonna be on it", says drummer Ken Buttrey. "I went over to Dylan and said, 'I'm having a little trouble thinking of something to play. Do you have any ideas on ['Lay Lady Lay']?'... He said, 'Bongos'... I immediately disregarded that, I couldn't hear bongos in this thing at all... So I walked into the control room and said, 'Bob [Johnston], what do you hear as regards [to] drums on this thing?'... [He] said, 'Cowbells.'... Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

 was working at Columbia Studios at the time as a janitor and he had just emptied my ashtray at the drums and I said, 'Kris, do me a favor, here, hold these two things... hold these bongos in one hand and the cowbells in the other,' and I swung this mike over to the cowbells and the bongos... I had no pattern or anything worked out. I just told Kris, 'This is one of those spite deals. I'm gonna show 'em how bad their ideas're gonna sound.'... We started playing the tune and I was just doodling around on these bongos and the cowbells and it was kinda working out pretty cool... Come chorus time I'd go to the set of drums. Next time you hear that [cut], listen how far off-mike the drums sound. There were no mikes on the drums, it was just leakage... But it worked out pretty good... To this day it's one of the best drum patterns I ever came up with."

"I Threw It All Away" was another hit single for Nashville Skyline. Riley describes it as "a glimmer of honesty from a person who has taken love for granted, squandered its rewards, and lived to sing about it." ("Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand/And rivers that ran through ev'ry day/I must have been mad/I never knew what I had/Until I threw it all away.")

"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" is "perhaps the best song of the sessions", writes Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.- Education :...

, "a fine cousin to John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding (album)
John Wesley Harding is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's eighth studio album, released by Columbia Records in December 1967.Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music...

s 'I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.'" Both songs closed their respective albums on a relaxed, romantic note with a hint of sexual longing. Dylan actually wrote "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" in February 1969 at a Ramada Inn on one of the motel's notepads. The third and final single from Nashville Skyline, like the previous two singles, it would also be a hit.

Outtakes and trivia

Producer Bob Johnston
Bob Johnston
Donald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...

 reportedly left a collection of master recordings from the Nashville Skyline sessions in a Nashville storage facility, and the tapes ended up in private hands after being auctioned off for nonpayment of rent.

Dylan and Cash recorded an entire album's worth of duets of country standards during the Nashville Skyline sessions, which remains unreleased. An unauthorized selection from those duets circulates among Dylan collectors and has been commercially bootlegged. It is sometimes described as an unreleased LP, but there is no hard evidence of its exact source.

At the beginning of "Girl from the North Country," Bob Dylan can be heard chewing gum, as shown on a film clip of that recording.

At the beginning of "To Be Alone with You" Bob Dylan asks "Is it rolling, Bob?", talking to the producer Bob Johnston.

Aftermath

Nashville Skyline was finished and scheduled for release in May 1969, but at the end of April, Dylan returned to Columbia's Studio A in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 for three more recording sessions. These sessions, held on April 24, 26th, and May 3, were dedicated to country standards with one exception, a new composition titled "Living The Blues." Dylan was apparently planning his next album.

"Bob asked my opinion of the album's concept early on", recalls Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

. "My objections wouldn't necessarily have stopped the album, but I knew he'd been having some difficulty coming up with his own material...so I encouraged him."

By the time Nashville Skyline was recorded, the political climate in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 had grown more turbulent and polarized. In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

 and Senator Robert Kennedy (a leading candidate for the presidency) were both assassinated. Riots had broken out in several major cities, including a major one surrounding the Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...

 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois and a number of racially-motivated riots spurred by King's assassination. A new President, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

, was sworn into office in January 1969, but the U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia, particularly the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, would continue for several more years. Protests over a wide range of political topics became more frequent. Dylan had been a leading cultural figure, noted for his political and social commentary throughout the 1960s. Even as he moved away from topical songs, he never lost his cultural status. However, as Clinton Heylin would write about Nashville Skyline, "if Dylan was concerned about retaining a hold on the rock constituency, making albums with Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

 in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 was tantamount to abdication in many eyes."

Helped by a promotional appearance on The Johnny Cash Show
The Johnny Cash Show
The Johnny Cash Show is a live album by country singer Johnny Cash, recorded at the Grand Ole Opry and released on Columbia Records in 1970. Though one of Cash's lesser-known live records, it spawned the highly successful single "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", which helped kickstart the career of...

 on June 7, Nashville Skyline went on to become one of Dylan's best-selling albums. Three singles were pulled from the album, all of which received significant airplay on AM radio.

Despite the dramatic, commercial shift in direction, the press also gave Nashville Skyline a warm reception. A critic for Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

 wrote of "the great charm... and the ways Dylan, both as composer and performer, has found to exploit subtle differences on a deliberately limited emotional and verbal scale." In his review for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, Paul Nelson wrote, "Nashville Skyline achieves the artistically impossible: a deep, humane, and interesting statement about being happy. It could well be ... his best album." However, years later in a review for Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II , also known as More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits, was the second compilation album released by Bob Dylan. With Dylan not expected to release any new material for an extended period of time, CBS Records president Clive Davis proposed issuing a double LP compilation of...

, Nelson would retract his opinion, writing "I was misinformed. That's why no one should pay any attention to critics, especially the artist."

Few critics expressed immediate disappointment, but of those who did, Ed Ochs of Billboard wrote, "the satisfied man speaks in clichés, and blushes as if every day were Valentine's Day", while Tim Souster
Tim Souster
Tim Souster was a British composer best known for his electronic music output.- Background :Born Timothy Andrew James Souster in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, Souster was educated at Bedford Modern School and New College, Oxford...

 of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's The Listener magazine wrote, "One can't help feeling something is missing. Isn't this idyllic country landscape [simply] too good to be true?"

As Nashville Skyline continued to enjoy strong sales, Dylan planned his first concert performance since the Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...

 memorial in January 1968. English promoters had approached Dylan about appearing at the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...

 at Woodside Bay in Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Before agreeing to the arrangements, Dylan made a surprise public performance on July 14, 1969. At the Mississippi River Festival
Mississippi River Festival
The Mississippi River Festival was a summer outdoor concert series held during the years 1969-1980 on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Festival was notable due to its central midwest location, the natural ambience of its outdoor venue, and the consistent...

 held at Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...

 in Edwardsville, Illinois
Edwardsville, Illinois
Edwardsville is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,293. It is the county seat of Madison County and is the third oldest city in the State of Illinois. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois...

, Dylan joined The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...

 for a brief four-song set, including Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...

's "Ain't Got No Home", Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....

's "In The Pines", and Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

's "Slippin' and Slidin'."

Later, on August 31, 1969, Dylan would appear with The Band at the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...

, performing a one-hour, seventeen-song setlist dominated by Dylan's compositions; only two songs from Nashville Skyline, "I Threw It All Away" and "Lay Lady Lay", were performed.

Roughly 200,000 fans attended Isle of Wight, and though audience reaction was strong enough to elicit a two-song encore, Dylan was dissatisfied with the whole performance. Dylan had hired Elliot Mazer
Elliot Mazer
Elliot Mazer is a producer, executive, technologist, and project leader. Elliot produced multi-platinum albums for artists including Neil Young, Janis Joplin, and Linda Ronstadt. He was the recording engineer of the live Last Waltz Concert. Meanwhile he has also built, designed, owned and operated...

 to record his set, hoping to release an official live album. Instead, Dylan scrapped those plans, but not before sending the tapes to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, where Bob Johnston began to remix the recordings.

Dylan had told Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 in late June that he would resume touring in the fall, but after the experience at Isle of Wight, those plans never materialized. There would be a few more sporadic performances before Dylan would finally resume touring in January 1974, four and a half years after the Isle of Wight festival.

Dylan was not alone in his disappointment with Isle of Wight, and he would experience that harsh criticism when a selection of those performances appeared on his next album. The stage had already been set with the three Nashville sessions in late April and early May, as Dylan was about to face the worst reviews of his career.

Side one

  1. "Girl from the North Country
    Girl from the North Country
    "Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was first released in 1963 as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in 1969. That recording became the first track on Nashville Skyline,...

    " (with Johnny Cash
    Johnny Cash
    John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

    ) – 3:41
  2. "Nashville Skyline Rag" – 3:12
  3. "To Be Alone with You
    To Be Alone with You
    "To Be Alone with You" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline."To Be Alone with You" was the first song Dylan recorded for Nashville Skyline, on February 13, 1969. It was one of four songs Dylan had written for the album in advance of the recording sessions, the others being...

    " – 2:07
  4. "I Threw It All Away
    I Threw It All Away
    "I Threw It All Away" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The track appeared on Dylan's album Nashville Skyline in 1969, and was released as its first single later that year, where it reached number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 30 on the UK Singles Chart...

    " – 2:23
  5. "Peggy Day" – 2:01

Side two

  1. "Lay Lady Lay
    Lay Lady Lay
    "Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...

    " – 3:18
  2. "One More Night" – 2:23
  3. "Tell Me That It Isn't True" – 2:41
  4. "Country Pie" – 1:37
  5. "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You
    Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You
    "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" is a song written by Bob Dylan from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline. It was the closing song of the album. The song was the third single released from the album, after "I Threw It All Away" and "Lay Lady Lay", reaching #50 on the US Billboard Hot 100...

    " – 3:23

Personnel

  • Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

     – Guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    , Harmonica
    Harmonica
    The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

    , Keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , Vocals
  • Johnny Cash
    Johnny Cash
    John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

     – vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

    , Performer
  • Pete Drake
    Pete Drake
    Pete Drake , born Roddis Franklin Drake, was a major Nashville, Tennessee-based record producer and pedal steel guitar player....

     – Pedal steel guitar
    Pedal steel guitar
    The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...

  • Fred Carter, Jr.
    Fred Carter, Jr.
    Fred Carter, Jr. was an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.- Early career :Carter was raised in the delta country in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Carter grew up with the heavy musical influences of jazz, country & western, hymns, and blues...

    : Guitar
  • Kenneth A. Buttrey – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Charlie Daniels
    Charlie Daniels
    Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...

     – Bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , Guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Bob Wilson – Organ
    Organ (music)
    The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

    , Piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Charlie McCoy
    Charlie McCoy
    Charles "Charlie" Ray McCoy is an American musician noted for his harmonica playing. In his career, McCoy has backed several notable musicians including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Tom Astor, Elvis Presley and Ween. He has also recorded thirty-seven studio albums, including fourteen for Monument Records...

     – Guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    , Harmonica
    Harmonica
    The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

  • Norman Blake
    Norman Blake (American musician)
    Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...

     – Guitar, Dobro
  • Charlie Bragg – Engineer
  • Neil Wilburn – Engineer
  • Marshall Grant
    Marshall Grant
    Marshall Garnett Grant was the upright bassist and electric bassist of singer Johnny Cash's original backing duo, the Tennessee Two, in which Grant and electric guitarist Luther Perkins played. The group became known as The Tennessee Three in 1960, with the addition of drummer W. S. Holland...

     – bass on "Girl from North Country"
  • Bob Wootton
    Bob Wootton
    Bob Wootton is an American guitarist. He joined Johnny Cash's backing band, the Tennessee Three, after original lead guitarist, Luther Perkins, died in a house fire.- Biography :...

     – electric guitar on "Girl from North Country"
  • W.S. Holland – drums on "Girl from North Country"

Charts

Album
Year Chart Position
1969 Billboard 200 3
1969 UK Top 75 1

Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1969 "I Threw it All Away" Billboard 200
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

85
1969 "I Threw it All Away" UK Top 100 30
1969 "Lay Lady Lay" Billboard 200
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

7
1969 "Lay Lady Lay" UK Top 75 5
1969 "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" Billboard 200
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

50
1969 "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" UK Top 75
"—" denotes that the single did not chart.
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