IT is May 1, 1969, and Bob Dylan is launching his new album, Nashville Skyline, with a taped appearance on the inaugural episode of The Johnny Cash Show. He hasn’t appeared on American television since The Steve Allen Show in February 1964. The five years that have since passed resemble a compressed lifetime in which Dylan has morphed from folk prince to generational spokesman; from Judas rocker to enigmatic recluse. Later this year, Rolling Stone will describe him as “the most secretive and elusive person in the entire rock and roll substructure”.
On The Johnny Cash Show, he emerges from a period of hibernation as an amiable country crooner, singing simple songs of heart and homestead in a mellifluous voice a million miles from the accusatory snarl of old. The show is taped at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry and epicenter of the country music establishment. Also appearing are Joni Mitchell and ‘The Ragin’ Cajun’, fiddler Doug Kershaw, as well as Fanny Flagg, a comedienne telling risqué jokes in a flurry of pink chiffon. Cash is a friend and recent collaborator, yet when Dylan arrives for the taping in the afternoon he is riddled with anxiety.
“He was very nervous,” Doug Kershaw recalls. “I had on a velvet suit, and he asked if I had any more. I said yes. Actually, I had a whole wardrobe. He wanted to see them. He came to my hotel room before the show, and he was trying on every one of my velvet suits. He thought he was underdressed, he just didn’t feel right. Eventually, I said, ‘You know what? Why don’t you be Bob Dylan and I’ll be Doug Kershaw.’ ‘How come, Diggy?’ He always called me Diggy. I said, ‘You look great just how you are.’ He’s Bob Dylan! I was trying to make an impression; he really didn’t have to. So that’s how he went on – just like himself.”
この記事は Uncut UK の December 2019 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Uncut UK の December 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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