'How High's The Water, Bob?'

Fifty years ago, BOB DYLAN and JOHNNY CASH holed up for two days in Columbia’s fabled Studio A in Nashville. The sessions, never officially released until now, caught these two titans of American music at pivotal moments in their respective careers. With the release of Travelin’ Thru, 1967 – 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol 15, the full story of this legendary summit can finally be told. Graeme Thomson examines the latest revelations from the Dylan archives, hearing tales of velvet suits, trips to the circus and nocturnal shenanigans at the Black Poodle in Printer’s Alley. “There was an incredible electricity,” says one eyewitness.

- Graeme Thomson

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.”