NASHVILLE CATS: THE MAKING OF BLONDE ON BLONDE (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 7th December 2023
Bill Nighy presents the definitive story of what really went down on tape, and in the studio, during the recording of Bob Dylan's classic album Blonde On Blonde.
In February 1966, Bob rolled in to Nashville to work on his seventh studio album. Following only partially successful sessions in New York, the decision had been taken to relocate to the Colombia label's Music Row studios. Nashville Cats looks at the music that resulted from the unlikely alliance between seasoned country music veterans, accustomed to fixed time studio sessions, and the more erratic modus operandi favoured by the wiry hipster poet.
Generally regarded as the high watermark of Dylan's most creatively intense period, Blonde On Blonde was recalled by the songwriter himself as being "the closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind...it's that thin wild mercury sound". Bill Nighy narrates a tale of in-studio composition, musicians by turns bemused, exasperated and inspired, and an artist operating at the very zenith of his talent.
Nashville Cats features newly sourced interviews with the key participants on these historic studio recording dates including musicians Al Kooper, Charlie McCoy, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Wayne Moss, Henry Strzelecki and Joe South. The documentary also features the perspective of Producer Bob Johnston, the man responsible for convincing Dylan to record in Nashville, and reveals the real story behind the supposed symbolism of its famous cover shot care of Jerry Schatzberg, the man behind the lens.
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