Nashville Skyline turns 50

Whenever I introduce a friend to Bob Dylan’s music, I start with a safe album, something like The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963). It’s accessible, and like many of his other iconic albums, can appeal to anyone immediately, whether it’s because of his lyrics or his raw sound. Nashville Skyline (1969) is not one of those albums.

I, too, was always a little uneasy with this album. I’m not much of a country fan, I didn’t care for his baritone country croon, and truthfully, there was just a lot of other music I’d rather listen to. But in the past few months, this album has grown on me immensely. On its 50th anniversary, I think it’s time that you appreciate the country masterpiece that is Nashville Skyline.

The album sticks out like Evans Hall next to our beautiful Doe Library in Dylan’s discography. Unlike the crazed electric sound of Blonde on Blonde (1966) or the haunting folk of John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline is rooted in country. Stranger than this, though, is his voice: Bob developed a country croon that no one knew he had. I thought it was really gross at first, if I’m being honest. Where is the smoking-a-pack-a-day, just-swallowed-a-chip-without-chewing scratchy voice that we all know? Bob actually quit smoking before this album, and said this is what allowed his sound to smooth to the voice we have when there’s a little peanut butter still stuck in the back of your throat.

In addition to substantial vocal changes, Bob included his first-ever instrumental song, “Nashville Skyline Rag,” and
a duet with Johnny Cash on the album opener, “Girl from the North Country.” He deviated from the absurd, abstract lyrics of previous albums (like my favorite line from “Tombstone Blues” when he stated, “The sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken”), to approachable, single-dimensional themes of love and joy. It’s nice every now and then to listen to Bob
without getting lost in the literature or his bizarre highs. “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” is a simple, sweet story about Bob not wanting to leave his lover for even a day. On “Lay Lady Lay,” Bob sings at first in the third-person about a man’s love for a woman, but later reveals that it is he who loves this woman. Throughout Nashville, Bob returns to cute themes of love and happiness that are a breath of fresh air from his typical songs about mankind’s monstrous behavior, heartbreak, and absurdity.

One of my favorite moments on the album is when Bob Dylan asks, “Is it rolling, Bob?” in the intro to “To Be Alone With You.” He’s talking to his producer, Bob Johnston, who had been working with Dylan since Highway 61 Revisited in 1965. The quick question adds so much character to the album, showing the purity and authenticity of Bob’s work.

Now, I’ve sort of been avoiding the fact that all of the tracks on the album are most definitely country songs. Fret not! It’s not what you think. Bob’s country isn’t whatever is on the radio today. It’s not pop-country, it’s country-rock. And not just any country-rock, but genre defining country-rock. In one album, Bob expanded the country genre from a massively conservative audience to people from all backgrounds. Without this album, bands like the Eagles might not have ever made it. Kris Kristofferson, one of the most influential Nashville songwriters of all time, said of Nashville Skyline: “Our generation owe him our artistic lives, because he opened all the doors in Nashville when he did Blonde On Blonde and Nashville Skyline … The country scene was so conservative until he arrived. He brought in a whole new audience. He changed the way people thought about it — even the Grand Ol’ Opry was never the same again.”

Fifty years later, Nashville Skyline remains one of Bob’s most iconic albums. And really, you don’t need to jump in a
tractor, strap on overalls, and pack a lip to enjoy it — it’s so much better for us all, actually, if you never do those. Go into it with an open mind, and imagine yourself back in time: April 9, 1969, listening to an album that, know it or not, will be a classic.