Nashville Skyline

Last updated

Nashville Skyline
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline.jpg
Studio album by
Bob Dylan
ReleasedApril 9, 1969 (1969-04-09)
RecordedFebruary 12–21, 1969
Studio Columbia Studio A (Nashville, Tennessee) [1]
Genre
Length26:46
Label Columbia
Producer Bob Johnston
Bob Dylan chronology
John Wesley Harding
(1967)		Nashville Skyline
(1969)		 Self Portrait
(1970)
Singles from Nashville Skyline
  1. "I Threw It All Away"/"Drifter's Escape"
    Released: May 1969
  2. "Lay Lady Lay"/"Peggy Day"
    Released: July 1969
  3. "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You"/"Country Pie"
    Released: October 1969

Nashville Skyline is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel-to-reel tape and audio cassette.

Contents

Building on the rustic style he experimented with on John Wesley Harding , Nashville Skyline displayed a complete immersion into country music. Along with the more basic lyrical themes, simple songwriting structures, and charming domestic feel, it introduced audiences to a radically new singing voice from Dylan, who had temporarily quit smoking [4] —a soft, affected country croon.

The result received a generally positive reaction from critics, and was a commercial success. Reaching No. 3 in the U.S., the album also scored Dylan his fourth UK No. 1 album.

Background

The concept of recording a country album in Nashville was first discussed with Dylan in 1965 by Johnny Cash, who expressed interest in producing such an album. [5] "I've got my own ideas about that Nashville sound and I'd like to try it with Bob," Cash said in a March 1965 interview with Music Business magazine. Those sessions never materialized and by June of that year, Dylan was going fully electric with the recording of Highway 61 Revisited . By the time Nashville Skyline was recorded, the political climate in the United States had grown more polarized. In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (a leading candidate for the presidency) were assassinated. Riots broke out in most major American cities, including a major one surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and racially motivated conflagrations spurred by King's assassination. A new president, Richard Nixon, was sworn into office in January 1969, but the U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia, particularly the Vietnam War, would continue for several years. Protests over a wide range of political topics became more frequent. Dylan had been a leading cultural figure, noted for political and social commentary throughout the 1960s. Even as he moved away from topical songs, he never lost his cultural stature. However, as Clinton Heylin wrote of Nashville Skyline, "If Dylan was concerned about retaining a hold on the rock constituency, making albums with Johnny Cash in Nashville was tantamount to abdication in many eyes." [6]

"Our generation owes him our artistic lives," observed Kris Kristofferson, who later sang with Cash in The Highwaymen, "because he opened all the doors in Nashville when he did Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. The country scene was so conservative until he arrived. He brought in a whole new audience. He changed the way people thought about it – even the Grand Ole Opry was never the same again." [7]

Helped by a promotional appearance on The Johnny Cash Show on June 7, Nashville Skyline went on to become one of Dylan's best-selling albums. Three singles were pulled from it, all of which received significant airplay on AM radio.

Critical reception and legacy

Retrospective professional reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [8]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
MusicHound Rock 3.5/5 [11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Tom Hull A− [13]

Despite the dramatic, commercial shift in direction, the press also gave Nashville Skyline a warm reception. A critic for Newsweek 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." [14] In Rolling Stone , 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." [15] However, Nelson would reconsider his opinion in a review for Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II less than three years later, writing, "I was misinformed. That's why no one should pay any attention to critics, especially the artist." [16] In The Village Voice , Robert Christgau argued that "the beauty of the album" was in the "totally undemanding" and "one-dimensional" quality of the songs, believing Dylan had toyed with the public's expectations again by embracing a country tenor voice and aesthetic. [17] He later included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). [18] It was voted number 579 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). [19]

A few critics expressed some disappointment. Ed Ochs of Billboard wrote, "the satisfied man speaks in clichés, and blushes as if every day were Valentine's Day." Tim Souster of the BBC's The Listener magazine wrote, "One can't help feeling something is missing. Isn't this idyllic country landscape too good to be true?" [20]

Hip hop group Public Enemy reference it in their 2007 Dylan tribute song "Long and Whining Road": "Fans, if it's not for you, there'd be no PE / From the Nashville Skyline, to the homeboys and girls of South Country". [21]

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Girl from the North Country" (duet with Johnny Cash)3:41
2."Nashville Skyline Rag"3:12
3."To Be Alone with You"2:07
4."I Threw It All Away"2:23
5."Peggy Day"2:01
Total length:13:24
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Lay Lady Lay"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"3:23
Total length:13:22

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

YearChartPeak
position
1969Billboard 200 [24] 3
1969 Cash Box Album Charts [25] 3
1969 Record World Album Charts [26] 1
1969 Spanish Albums Chart [27] 4
1969UK Top 75 [28] 1

Singles

YearSingleChartPeak
position
1969"I Threw it All Away" Billboard Hot 100 [29] 85
1969"I Threw it All Away" UK Top 100 [30] 30
1969"Lay Lady Lay" Billboard Hot 100 [29] 7
1969"Lay Lady Lay" UK Top 75 [31] 5
1969"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" Billboard Hot 100 [29] 50

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [32] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [33]
2004 release 		Gold100,000^
United States (RIAA) [34] Platinum1,000,000 [35]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

<i>Blood on the Tracks</i> 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan

Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975, by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan began recording the album at an A & R studio in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the album, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in Sound 80 studio in Minneapolis. The final album contains five tracks recorded in New York and five from Minneapolis. The album's songs have been linked to tensions in Dylan's personal life, including his estrangement from his then-wife Sara. One of their children, Jakob Dylan, has described the songs as "my parents talking." In interviews, Dylan has denied that the songs on the album are autobiographical.

<i>Highway 61 Revisited</i> 1965 studio album by Bob Dylan

Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Dylan continued the musical approach of his previous album Bringing It All Back Home (1965), using rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album in a further departure from his primarily acoustic folk sound, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural climate of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.

<i>Blonde on Blonde</i> 1966 studio album by Bob Dylan

Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as a double album on June 20, 1966, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing band, the Hawks. Though sessions continued until January 1966, they yielded only one track that made it onto the final album—"One of Us Must Know ". At producer Bob Johnston's suggestion, Dylan, keyboardist Al Kooper, and guitarist Robbie Robertson moved to the CBS studios in Nashville, Tennessee. These sessions, augmented by some of Nashville's top session musicians, were more fruitful, and in February and March all the remaining songs for the album were recorded.

<i>Bringing It All Back Home</i> 1965 studio album by Bob Dylan

Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. In a major transition from his earlier sound, it was Dylan's first album to incorporate electric instrumentation, which caused controversy and divided many in the contemporary folk scene.

<i>John Wesley Harding</i> 1967 studio album by Bob Dylan

John Wesley Harding is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on December 27, 1967, by Columbia Records. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to semi-acoustic instrumentation and folk-influenced songwriting after three albums of lyrically abstract, blues-indebted rock music. John Wesley Harding was recorded around the same time as the home recording sessions with The Band known as The Basement Tapes.

<i>Infidels</i> (Bob Dylan album) 1983 studio album by Bob Dylan

Infidels is the twenty-second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 27, 1983, by Columbia Records.

<i>Oh Mercy</i> 1989 studio album by Bob Dylan

Oh Mercy is the twenty-sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 12, 1989, by Columbia Records. Produced by Daniel Lanois, it was hailed by critics as a triumph for Dylan, after a string of poorly reviewed albums. Oh Mercy gave Dylan his best chart showing in years, reaching No. 30 on the Billboard charts in the United States and No. 6 in Norway and the UK.

<i>Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Bob Dylan

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is the twelfth studio album and first soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 13, 1973, by Columbia Records for the Sam Peckinpah film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Dylan himself appeared in the film as the character "Alias". The soundtrack consists mainly of instrumental music and was inspired by the movie itself. The album includes "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which became a trans-Atlantic Top 20 hit.

<i>Under the Red Sky</i> 1990 studio album by Bob Dylan

Under the Red Sky is the twenty-seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 1990, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Don Was, David Was, and Dylan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lay Lady Lay</span> 1969 song by Bob Dylan

"Lay Lady Lay", sometimes rendered "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. The song has become a standard and has been covered by numerous bands and artists over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Johnston</span> American record producer and musician

Donald William "Bob" Johnston was an American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Simon & Garfunkel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Dylan</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1941)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie's folk songs, Robert Johnson's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Want You (Bob Dylan song)</span> 1966 song by Bob Dylan

"I Want You" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as a single in June 1966, and, later that month, on his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde. The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Bob Johnston. The song has been interpreted as a straightforward expression of lust, although critics have highlighted that the symbolism of the song is complex. It was the last song recorded for Blonde on Blonde, with several takes recorded in the early hours of March 10, 1966. It was included on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (1967). The song has received a largely positive critical reception, with a number of commentators highlighting Dylan's use of imagery, although some of the meanings are obscure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pledging My Time</span> 1966 single by Bob Dylan

"Pledging My Time" is a blues song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966). The song, written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston, was recorded on March 8, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan is featured on lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar, backed by guitarist Robbie Robertson and an ensemble of veteran Nashville session men.

"Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month 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 February 1969. That recording became the opening track on Nashville Skyline, Dylan's ninth studio album.

<i>The Basement Tapes</i> 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and the Band

The Basement Tapes is the sixteenth album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the release of Blonde on Blonde and the subsequent recording and release of John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of Big Pink. While most of these had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">If Not for You</span> 1970 song by Bob Dylan

"If Not for You" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his October 1970 album New Morning. It was issued as the A-side of a single in Europe in early 1971. The song is a love song to Dylan's first wife, Sara Dylan. He recorded it several times in 1970; the session for the released version took place in New York in August. He also recorded the song with George Harrison on May 1, soon after the break-up of the Beatles, a session that attracted much speculation in the music press. The May recording remained unreleased until its inclusion on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watching the River Flow</span> Song by Bob Dylan

"Watching the River Flow" is a song by American singer Bob Dylan. Produced by Leon Russell, it was written and recorded during a session in March 1971 at the Blue Rock Studio in New York City. The collaboration with Russell formed in part through Dylan's desire for a new sound—after a period of immersion in country rock music—and for a change from his previous producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You</span> 1969 single by Bob Dylan

"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 chart, and reaching the top 20 in other countries. It was anthologized on the compilation albums Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II and Playlist: The Very Best of Bob Dylan '60s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Threw It All Away</span> 1969 single by Bob Dylan

"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. It is considered to be one of the best and most popular songs on the album.

References

  1. ↑ Kosser, Michael (2006). How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: A History Of Music Row. Lanham, Maryland, US: Backbeat Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN   978-1-49306-512-7.
  2. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-stone-hall-of-fame-bob-dylans-nashville-skyline-188435/
  3. ↑ Michael Erlewine (1997). All Music Guide to Country: The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings in Country Music. Miller Freeman. p. 40. ISBN   978-0-87930-475-1.
  4. ↑ "How Bob Dylan Found His New Voice on 'Nashville Skyline'". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  5. ↑ Music Business 1965. Johnny Casy World Radio History [ dead link ]
  6. ↑ Heylin (2003), p. 301.
  7. ↑ Bell, Max: "Q&A: Kris Kristofferson"; Classic Rock #148, August 2010, p34
  8. ↑ "Nashville Skyline". AllMusic . Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  9. ↑ Kot, Greg (October 25, 1992). "Dylan Through the Years: Hits and Misses". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  10. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  11. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p.  371. ISBN   1-57859-061-2.
  12. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York, NY: Fireside. p. 262. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8 . Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  13. ↑ Hull, Tom (June 21, 2014). "Rhapsody Streamnotes: June 21, 2014". tomhull.com. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  14. ↑ Quoted in Heylin (2003), p. 302.
  15. ↑ Nelson, Paul (May 31, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone . No. 34. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. p. 36. Archived from the original on June 1, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  16. ↑ Nelson, Paul (January 6, 1972). "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  17. ↑ Christgau, Robert (May 1969). "Obvious Believers". The Village Voice . Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  18. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   0899190251 . Retrieved March 16, 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  19. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 195. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.
  20. ↑ Both quoted in Heylin (2003), p. 303.
  21. ↑ Public Enemy – The Long and Whining Road , retrieved April 12, 2021
  22. ↑ Heylin, Clinton (1995). The Recording Sessions 1960-1994 . St. Martin's Press. pp.  74, 75. ISBN   0312134398.
  23. ↑ "Bob Dylan 'Nashville Skyline' Cover: The Inside Story". bestclassicbands.com. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Bob Dylan – Chart history". www.billboard.com. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  25. ↑ "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Archive of all issues from1942 to 1996". www.americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  26. ↑ "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". www.americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  27. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN   84-8048-639-2.
  28. ↑ "The Official Charts Company – Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline". Official Charts Company . Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  29. 1 2 3 "Bob Dylan – Chart history". www.billboard.com. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  30. ↑ "I Threw it All Away UK Chart". officialcharts.com. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Lay Lady Lay – UK Charts". officialcharts.com. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline". Music Canada . Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  33. ↑ "British album certifications – Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  34. ↑ "American certifications". Recording Industry Association of America.
  35. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.