Throught The Cracks: Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline

Through the cracks is a series on classic albums you should own if you don't. These aren't the most popular albums by the artist, but more likely one you may have overlooked.

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
There have been thousands and thousands of pages spent trying to figure out what goes through the mind of Bob Dylan. You can make a career out of it. And that's just the way he likes it. There is probably no other artist that is so influential, yet so mysterious. The beauty of being Bob Dylan is that you have the ability to create whatever you want, for better or worse, without considering what people think. He has released 45 albums since his self-titled debut album hit the stores in 1962, some great, and some unfortunate. By the age of 21 he already created an evolving mythology about himself. Robert Zimmerman, scrawny Jewish boy from Minnesota had converted himself into road-wise hobo Bob Dylan. He claimed to have traveled the rails and learned songs from obscure musicians that he never met. He told stories about life on the road, populated with characters that existed only his mind. Along the way he picked up an affected Okie accent, reminiscent of his idol Woody Guthrie, and started using his own form of retro-hip slang. It didn't really matter that no one bought the wild stories or contrived persona. It created an aura around Bob Dylan that was bigger than himself. It was this new persona that could sing stories of pain, love and sorrow with the crackle of an old wanderer. Something a skinny kid from Minnesota could never have gotten away with. Throughout his career Dylan has been an enigma to even his "closest colleagues". He would often show up hours late for recording sessions. Walk in the door without saying anything, plug in, count off the beat and start playing. Many times the frantic musicians were hearing the music for the first time, straining to see Dylan's fingers so they could figure out the chord progressions. Rag tag numbers would be cut in single takes, while others would require intricate work. The time or attention didn't seem to affect the out come. Some classic Dylan songs were cut with less thought than the average advertising jingle might receive.

So, who knows what was going through Dylan's head as he laid down the tracks for Nashville Skyline in 1969? Although many of the studio musician assembled for the session had been on hand to record his two previous albums, John Wesley Harding and Blond on Blonde, none of them had more than a passing conversation with the elusive songwriter. They had no idea what they were to record. The first track cut for the album was the classic Lay Lady Lay (intended for the soundtrack of Midnight Cowboy but delivered too late). It was at this session that everyone would get their first hint of the "new sound" that Dylan would use on the upcoming album. First there was the issue of the drum track. Dylan told drummer Kenny Buttery that he wanted bongos on the track. Buttery then asked producer Bob Johnston what he thought, and Johnston suggested a cowbell. In part to show how silly and unfocused the direction was, Buttery had the studio janitor (a young Kris Kristofferson) hold a pair of cheap bongos and an old cowbell next to his set as he beat out an odd tick tock pattern. It turned out to be just what Dylan was looking for, and lends off-kilter timing to the song. The weirdness continued when Dylan stepped up to the mic and recorded his vocal. Instead of the throaty, croaking voice they were used to, Dylan unleashed a smooth croon. More Roy Orbison than Woody Guthrie. The lyric itself isn't necessarily remarkable, a standard love song, but the delivery shimmers. This is true of most of the songs on Nashville Skyline. The performance out shines the writing, certainly a change for Dylan. His countrified voice really stands out on the album's first song, a remake Girl from the North Country with Johnny Cash. This take was the result of an impromptu two-hour jam session between the two friends (a bootleg of this session circulates widely). Here the song sounds haunted, the two men playing sparse guitar and trading vocal leads. At one point they harmonize the chorus, Dylan's ethereal tenor floating above Cash's powerful baritone. While the looseness of the session is apparent, it is still a powerful remake of one of Dylan's most popular songs (first released on Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963). One of the things that make this album work is the band. A collection of seasoned studio musicians that lend a polished, professional edge to the albums rag-tag country blues. They really shine on the instrumental Nashville Skyline Rag and the southern fried To Be Alone With You. As with most Dylan albums, not everything is perfect here. But whether he's delivering the emotional performance of I Threw it All Away or the vaudevillian sway of Peggy Day, it is all heartfelt. And some tracks, like the rockin' Country Pie whose fiery jam fades out at the end, makes you wonder what we didn't get to hear. Dylan has of course gone on to become one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. At 61, the enduring road warrior still criss crosses the country, delivering inspired performances night after night. That voice that seemed unlikely for a 20-year-old kid has matured into a powerful tool befitting an aging icon. Who knows why he chose to show the world another side on Nashville Skyline, but I'm sure glad he did. It's an album that could only be made by Bob Dylan, even if it sounds like someone else entirely. But maybe that's the moral of the Story of Bob. You can keep people wondering for 30 years and they'll always come back for moreas long as have the talent to back it up.