BOB DYLAN (FEATURING JOHNNY CASH) – TRAVELIN' THRU, 1967 - 1969: THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 15 TO BE RELEASED BY COLUMBIA RECORDS/LEGACY RECORDINGS NOV. 1

September 19, 2019-New York, NY-Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release Bob Dylan (featuring Johnny Cash) - Travelin' Thru, 1967 - 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 on Friday, November 1.

The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy's highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series revisits Dylan's pivotal musical journeys to Nashville, from 1967 to 1969, focusing on previously unavailable recordings made with Johnny Cash and unreleased tracks from the John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and Self Portrait sessions.

Bob Dylan (featuring Johnny Cash) - Travelin' Thru, 1967 - 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 is available in 3CD and 3LP physical configurations and digital equivalent. Pre-order here:

Disc One of Travelin' Thru, 1967 - 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 finds Dylan in Columbia's Studio A in Nashville recording alternate versions of compositions written for John Wesley Harding (October 17 and November 6, 1967) and Nashville Skyline (February 13-14, 1969) while introducing a new song "Western Road" (a Nashville Skyline outtake).

Discs Two and Three of Travelin' Thru are centered around Dylan's collaborations with American music icon Johnny Cash including the much sought-after Columbia Studio A sessions and on-stage performances at the Ryman Auditorium (May 1, 1969) for the recording of the premiere episode of The Johnny Cash Show (originally broadcast on ABC-TV on June 7, 1969).

Disc Three closes with tracks recorded on May 17, 1970 with Grammy Award-winning bluegrass banjo legend Earl Scruggs for the PBS television special, "Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends" (originally aired January 1971).

1967 saw a profound and surprising transformation in Bob Dylan's musical evolution. With contemporary pop culture becoming increasingly baroque, surreal and psychedelic in the wake of Dylan's 1965-66 cutting edge trilogy, Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 Revisited/Blonde On Blonde, the artist withdrew from public view following a motorcycle accident in July 1966. He'd recorded Blonde On Blonde with a full-band in Nashville in February 1966 but, when it came time to record its follow-up in the fall of 1967, he opted for a simple trio--Dylan (guitar, vocals, harmonica), Charlie McCoy (bass) and Kenneth Buttrey (drums)--to create a sublime minimal sound.

In his liner notes for Travelin' Thru,Colin Escott writes, "Talking to journalist Matt Damsker about the sound of John Wesley Harding, Dylan said, 'I didn't know how to record the way other people were recording, and I didn't want to… Ijust didn't think all that production was necessary.'He also went for lyrical economy. 'What I'm trying to do now is not use too many words,' he said. 'There's no line you can stick your finger through. There's no blank filler.'"

Dylan returned to Columbia Studio A in February 1969 to work on Nashville Skyline.

"Bob asked me to be a guest on the album," Johnny Cash said later, "and I went to the studio and they just turned on the recorder for about two hours." Columbia Studio A hosted two Dylan-Cash sessions: February 17 and 18, 1969 with a band that included rock 'n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins playing guitar on six tracks (including his own composition, "Matchbox"). One of the more intriguing sonic discoveries on Travelin' Thruis "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright/Understand Your Man," as two singular singer/songwriters pay mutual compositional and vocal tribute to each other.

The full-day Dylan-Cash duet session included the first known version of "Wanted Man" and the only version of the song ever sung by Dylan. The following week, Cash made it the opening song at his San Quentin concert. The session provides insight into the shared sensibilities of Dylan and Cash through a variety of covers including two Jimmie Rodgers medleys.

When The Johnny Cash Show was scheduled to debut in June 1969, the host offered Bob Dylan a guest slot on the first show. In the days before and after The Johnny Cash Show taping, Dylan was working on the album that emerged more than a year later as Self Portrait. For the May 3 Self Portrait session, guitarist Fred Carter was brought in to augment Dylan's usual Nashville band. The "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Ring of Fire" recorded that day are available for the first time on Travelin' Thru.

Although only one duet with Johnny Cash ("Girl from the North Country") appears on Dylan's original Nashville Skyline album, Cash penned the album's Grammy Award-winning liner notes. A month after Nashville Skyline was released, Dylan made his first live TV appearance in five years on The Johnny Cash Show; that performance is also included here.

 

Bob Dylan (featuring Johnny Cash) - Travelin' Thru, 1967 - 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15

 

DISC 1

October 17, 1967

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

John Wesley Harding sessions

01. Drifter's Escape – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

02. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine – Take 2 (Alternate Version)

November 6, 1967

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

John Wesley Harding sessions

03. All Along the Watchtower – Take 3 (Alternate Version)

04. John Wesley Harding – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

05. As I Went Out One Morning – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

06. I Pity the Poor Immigrant – Take 4 (Alternate Version)

07. I Am a Lonesome Hobo – Take 4 (Alternate Version)

Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica

Charlie McCoy: bass

Kenneth Buttrey: drums

February 13, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

Nashville Skyline sessions

08. I Threw It All Away – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

Previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait

09. To Be Alone with You – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

10. Lay Lady Lay – Take 2 (Alternate Version)

Previously released as a digital download with iTunes pre-orders of Together Through Life

11. One More Night – Take 2 (Alternate Version)

12. Western Road – Take 1 (Outtake)

February 14, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

Nashville Skyline sessions

13. Peggy Day – Take 1 (Alternate Version)

14. Tell Me That It Isn't True – Take 2 (Alternate Version)

15. Country Pie – Take 2 (Alternate Version)

Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica

Kelton D. Herston, Norman Blake, Charlie Daniels, Wayne Moss (10 & 12): guitars

Bob Wilson: piano, organ

Peter Drake: steel guitar (13-15)

Charlie McCoy: bass

Kenneth Buttrey: drums

DISC 2

February 17, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

The Dylan-Cash Sessions

01. I Still Miss Someone – Take 5

Written by Johnny Cash and Roy Cash, Jr.

02. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right/Understand Your Man – Rehearsal

Written by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

February 18, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

The Dylan-Cash Sessions

03. One Too Many Mornings – Take 3

04. Mountain Dew – Take 1

Written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Scott Wiseman

05. Mountain Dew – Take 2

Written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Scott Wiseman

06. I Still Miss Someone – Take 2

Written by Johnny Cash and Roy Cash, Jr.

07. Careless Love – Take 1

Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

08. Matchbox – Take 1

Written by Carl Perkins

09. That's All Right, Mama – Take 1

Written by Arthur Crudup

10. Mystery Train/This Train Is Bound for Glory – Take 1

Mystery Train written by Junior Parker

This Train Is Bound for Glory written by Woody Guthrie

11. Big River – Take 1

Written by Johnny Cash

12. Girl from the North Country – Rehearsal

13. Girl from the North Country – Take 1

14. I Walk the Line – Take 2

Written by Johnny Cash

15. Guess Things Happen That Way – Rehearsal

Written by Jack Clement

16. Guess Things Happen That Way – Take 3

Written by Jack Clement

17. Five Feet High and Rising – Take 1

Written by Johnny Cash

18. You Are My Sunshine – Take 1

Written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell

19. Ring of Fire – Take 1

Written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore

DISC 3

February 18, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

The Dylan-Cash Sessions

01. Studio Chatter

02. Wanted Man – Take 1

03. Amen – Rehearsal

Written by Jester Hairston

04. Just a Closer Walk with Thee – Take 1

Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

05. Jimmie Rodgers Medley No. 1 – Take 1

Based on Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas), The Brakeman's Blues (Yodeling the Blues Away), and Blue Yodel No. 5 (It's Raining Here) written by Jimmie Rodgers

06. Jimmie Rodgers Medley No. 2 – Take 2

Based on Waiting for a Train, The Brakeman's Blues (Yodeling the Blues Away), and Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) written by Jimmie Rodgers

Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar

Johnny Cash: vocals, guitar

Carl Perkins: guitar (08,10, 02, 04-06)

Bob Wootton: guitar

Marshall Grant: bass

W.S. Holland: drums

May 1, 1969

Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN

Live on The Johnny Cash Show

Originally broadcast on ABC-TV, June 7, 1969

07. I Threw It All Away

included on 2010 DVD The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971

08. Living the Blues

09. Girl from the North Country

included on 2010 DVD The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971

Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar

Johnny Cash: vocals, guitar (09)

Norman Blake and Charlie Daniels: guitars

Peter Drake: steel guitar

Bob Wilson: piano

Charlie McCoy: bass

Kenneth Buttrey: drums

May 3, 1969

Columbia Studio A, Nashville, TN

Self Portrait sessions

10. Ring of Fire (Outtake)

Written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore

11. Folsom Prison Blues (Outtake)

Written by Johnny Cash

Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar

Fred F. Carter, Norman Blake: guitars

Charlie Daniels: guitar (11), bass (10)

Bob Wilson: piano

Peter Drake: steel guitar

Charlie McCoy: harmonica (10), bass (11)

Kenneth Buttrey: drums

Delores Edgin and Dottie Dillard: background vocals

May 17, 1970

The Home of Thomas B. Allen, Carmel, New York

With Earl Scruggs

12. Earl Scruggs Interview

13. East Virginia Blues

Written by A.P. Carter

Included in 1971 documentary Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends

14. To Be Alone with You

15. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance

Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan

16. Nashville Skyline Rag

Previously released on the album Earl Scruggs Performing with His Family and Friends

Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar

Earl Scruggs: banjo

Randy Scruggs: acoustic guitar

Gary Scruggs: electric bass

All songs written by Bob Dylan except where noted

All tracks previously unreleased except where noted

Produced by Jeff Rosen and Steve Berkowitz

John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and Self Portrait sessions originally produced by Bob Johnston

Liner notes by Colin Escott and Rosanne Cash

Website: http://www.bobdylan.com/

Instagram: @bobdylan

Facebook: @bobdylan