Dylan
Bob Dylan had already made a habit of defying expectations when he came to Nashville to record Blonde on Blonde in 1966. The decision to work with country's session players may have worried Dylan's label and management, but for Dylan it marked the breakthrough of a captivating new sound. After Blonde on Blonde Dylan kept coming back to that sound and to Nashville, and his ongoing relationship with the city's musicians proved fruitful. In 1969, Dylan released an out-and-out country album, Nashville Skyline, which included a duet with Johnny Cash. The collaboration of these two icons, and the blending of their distinct musical styles, would set the tone for the country-rock of the next decades.
Columbia Records ad for Bob Dylan c. 1963, shortly after Dylan was signed to the label.
Among the artifacts displayed here are ten-inch acetate discs from the Blonde on Blonde sessions in Nashville, the guitar that Charlie Daniels played on Nashville Skyline, and Ron Cornelius's custom-made bass.
This photograph, taken by Elliott Landy in Woodstock, NY, was gifted to Johnny and June Carter Cash by Bob Dylan. The same image would come to be used on the cover of Dylan's Nashville Skyline album, for which Johnny Cash wrote liner notes.
"For Bob Johnston.
Thank you for everything.
-Bob Dylan"