Bob Dylan – ”Nashville Skyline” (1969)
 

What if I’m someone who likes country & western. Cowboy hat, boots with spurs and a pickup truck around the corner. When people ask me what kind of music I like, it has often been easier to say what I don’t like. Opera and country & western is included on that list. I've always made ​​an exception for Lee Hazlewood. His version of country & western is OK, but the others ...

Bob Dylan hasn’t been a great favourite of mine, either. Sure, he has undoubtedly written amazing songs, but his voice and the songs’ sound have never appealed to me. Bob Dylan, I often think, is one of the few artists where the covers are better than the original songs.

Nashville Skyline has caused me to doubt myself and question different aspects of my identity and history. What if I simply haven’t come out of the closet? What if I’m a country & western lover? What would my parents say?

Nashville Skyline was Dylan's ninth studio album and quite different than the previous ones. The first time I heard Lay Lady Lay (on a compilation CD I have), I refused to believe it was Dylan. It must be a cover or a lousy attempt to fool people with a home recording purported to be Dylan. However, undoubtedly a nice song which I immediately fell for, and which I later realized, of course, was Dylan. Although he sounded so... different.

On Nashville Skyline Dylan sings with a very different voice than his usual, it’s deeper, softer and better (according to me). And the music is country & western recorded in Nashville. On the opening track Girl From The North Country, he even sings a duet with Johnny Cash. Cash spent some time in the studio with Dylan and they recorded more duets, however, only one was used on the album. Dylan had on the previous record, John Wesley Harding, some country & western inspired songs, but on Nashville Skyline he took it all the way.

 

Nashville Skyline is a different Dylan album I can recommend, even to those who don’t like country & western. Here you get a pretty relaxed country album without the whining southern accent, banjos or fiddles. It's a nice sound and many great songs. The classic Lay Lady Lay is a favourite, as are the before mentioned opening track, I Threw It All Away and Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You. It’s certainly heard now and then it’s Dylan, he is not completely free from his heritage.

I still maintain that country & western isn’t my favourite kind of music, but I have in Nashville Skyline found yet an exception. The album was well received by the audience and press and got high rankings on lists, including a number 1 spot in England. My copy has a golden text where it says it’s forbidden to sell, it’s only for promotional use. This makes it almost illegal to own, which speaks to the rebel inside me.

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. Girl From The North Country 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

Side B

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