Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash :: 1969 Sessions [two masters collaborating, free mp3 downloads]

aquarium drunkard blog ^ | November 18th, 2008

[Mike Fieschko]

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago in Bob Dylan :: After The Crash (1967-1970), back in 2005 AD posted the unreleased tracks from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash’s 1968 sessions. With the Legacy reissue of Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison and the October release of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Volume 8 (more on that later) a re-post felt both warranted and appropriate.

This is a true peice of Americana -- two iconic masters of their craft conversing with one another via song. Recorded throughout 1969 on three separate occasions, these recordings mark an important historical collaboration between two American poets/musicians. Even a casual fan of either artist should at least give these a cursory listen. Great stuff.

CBS studios, Nashville, TN February 17-18, 1969. Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN May 1, 1969. Nashville Skyline: The quadraphonic mixes

DOWNLOAD:
+Dylan/Cash Sessions+
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Good Ol’ Mountain Dew
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: I Still Miss Someone
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Careless Love
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Matchbox
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: That’s Alright Mama
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Big River
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Girl From The North Country
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: I Walk The Line
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: You Are My Sunshine
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Ring Of Fire
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Guess Things Happen That Way
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Just A Closer Walk With Thee
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Blue Yodel #2

+Ryman Auditorium+
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: I Threw It All Away
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Living The Blues
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Girl From The North Country

+Nashville Skyline Quadraphonic Mixes….AFTER THE JUMP….

MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Nashville Skyline Rag
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: I Threw It All Away
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Peggy Day
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Country Pie
MP3: Dylan/Cash :: Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You

[Emmett McCarthy]

If you look at those album credits, the guitar player was Charlie Daniels. First time I’d ever heard of him, but he knocked my socks off on that one. Believe it or not, the first time I met Charlie many years later. “Lay, Lady, Lay” was actually playing on the radio. I know it sounds weird but it’s true.

[PowderMonkey]

"Dillon said that when he thinks of Cash he thinks of him as a religious figure. I thought this interesting especially seeing that Johnny had played with Dillon often before he became Dillon. I couldn't quite make out if he was implying that Johnny had a ‘religious’ sort of influence on him or (I am sure there are many ways to view this) as Dillon saw him more as a religious man."

The word "Patriarch" comes to mind here, for Cash certainly was that. Although I have no doubt that Cash also had deeply religious convictions despite personal failures and shortcomings as we all do. "Lord make me chaste...but not just yet."

[GOP Poet]

Wow. Thank you for the links. I just clicked on Hurt and was astounded.
One by his singing of this song but also the incredible video of him. He is such a complex and strong man. Wonderful.

[Mr Rogers]

Sounded like “Bob Dylan screws up Cash” to me.

[GOP Poet]

:-). Thanks for those thoughts. Patriarch. Yes. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Like a patriarch that reaches through time too. You can see that in the way he shows up in different decades participating in the music of the day being a patriarch to many through time. Touching. Courageous committed man, bringing the great complexity of human failings and Godly conviction and the world that rests between.

[GOP Poet]

LOL. Well Dillon is no backup singer and they both knew this going into it. I understand your thought though too. Thus the LOL. It is another thing I loved about Cash, he sang with other musicians—other unique voices not someone just to make him the focal point. I admire that as I listen. Robert Plant does not do this extensively, but he is another that respects and plays with others in a similar tradition—both inspired by the country music that laid the foundation for rock and roll music.

[i_dont_chat]

Thanks. Bookmark.

[SlapHappyPappy]

Yet, at the same time, that’s the best Dylan has ever sounded. Guess Cash made him spit out the marbles before they recorded.

[Lancey Howard]

Lay Lady Lay was the reason I bought the album. I had already bought the 45. Still have both.

FRegards,
LH

PS: That’s pretty cool you met Charlie. He has been a favorite of mine for a long time.

[Skooz]

The working links . . .

Thanks!

Hey, how the heck you been doin'?

[Ghengis]

Sounded like “Bob Dylan screws up Cash” to me.

Sounded like a couple of pals playing on the front porch on a hot, summer evening to me. I enjoy these kinds of rough performances where fun is more important than polish.

[Skooz]

ditto

[ccmay]

Hey, thanks! A nice addition to my iTunes library. Fast downloads, too.

[Tainan]

Thanks...Thanks very much.

[tomkat]

VERY fast !

[GOP Poet]

Hey Skooz! It’s going well here! Hope all is well there. :=). I often think you look like the first picture on your FREEP page. LOL. I love it! I need to get some hot mama with a gun. Can’t be Sarah though everyone knows her.

[weegee]

I missed this thread somehow. Carl Perkins is also on some of the Sun tracks.

[weegee]

Dylan was certainly not in control on these tracks. And there were together for hours. This was what got recorded (and it sounds like the first run through).

[weegee]

I'm convinced that Bb Dlaaaaan deliberately mumbleshiswords because I've heard him perfect coherent in the eras since he has started doing that.

I think he's taking the piss out of his diehard fans hanging on his every word. And just like brando he'll do it to get back at the crowd if he doesn't think they are appreciating it in the right way.

Plus it is just an inflection (like singing in a dialect that you did not grow up with). Makes it more “authentic” and can be interesting to the singer when breathing through it. But it is NOT a trained voice. It is playing an instrument wrong deliberately or by lack of skill.