Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline

“Nashville Skyline”, the ninth studio album by Bob Dylan, produced by Bob Johnston, released on April 9, 1969 by CBS, appeared in displays almost a year and a half after the previous album “John Wesley Harding” (December '67).
Like this one, it is the result of an irreverent stand against the sector's criticism and the fans, developed over time as a reaction to the behavior of both regarding his private life and his public image.

The newspapers continue to define the artist as a “spokesperson for a generation”, despite the fact that he has already dispossessed himself of this role for several years, which was originally assigned to him due to the historical circumstances in which he began to take his first steps (on a mere level of publications, I refer to the period from '62 to '64).
Before '67, he had already surprised, not to say shocked, even disgusted his own “folk” following, by giving his sound a radical direction, picking up the electric guitar, and launching into intentionally exaggerated electric cavalcades, new then, still disconcerting at the thought today.
Dylan effectively invents folk rock, a genre that will enjoy a certain freshness until the late '70s/early '80s, subsequently spawning new subgenres thanks to the fusion with punk and the nascent indie rock. The electric trilogy of the years '65/'66 causes Dylan to lose many fans, but in return, it gives him just as many.

On July 29, 1966, he suffered a setback, when near Woodstock, NY, where he resided, he had a motorcycle accident that marked him, to the point of leading him to a period of voluntary isolation.
During '67, hardly anything is heard about Dylan, who makes, at home, unreleased material with much effort, while recovering from the incident. Meanwhile, some pirate recordings circulate, in the form of bootlegs (“Great White Wonder”, the first in rock history), reproducing his sessions with The Band.

It is not surprising that, at the end of '67 (in the same month that “Songs of Leonard Cohen” is released – a whole different story!), the fans and the critics are further shocked, incredulous at what their ears hear: Dylan's voice is not the same. The artist, a great “troll” before its time, sings his new material, with country-rock sounds, markedly traditional, with a crooner intonation, which, again, earns him the label of “sellout”, as at the time of “Bringing It All Back Home”, the first block of the already mentioned electric trilogy. As before, listeners stop at the appearance, not being ready for the tests submitted to them.

The game repeats itself in 1969, with greater synthesis, in “Nashville Skyline”. The album consists of 10 tracks, and does not exceed half an hour of running time, unlike the previous one, which reached forty. The songs come to life in the Nashville Studios. No tapes worthy of publication emerged from the first session, while, already from the second, some “fruits” could be seen. “Lay Lady Lay”, written the previous year, was developed.
The great merit of the final result is that one can sense a relaxed and disenchanted atmosphere. In the years when the Vietnam War was at its peak, and everyone expected new invectives and political stances, the artist, “reborn” once again, disappointed expectations, but in fact composed a delightful work, reaffirming his craft. Not a masterpiece, but a nice album by Bob Dylan.

Despite the criticisms, it had a more than good commercial success, reaching third place in the homeland, and topping the charts in the United Kingdom. The sound is more polished, certainly more accessible.
The leading tracks are the already mentioned single “Lay Lady Lay”, which became a true standard to this day (which, moreover, was supposed to be part of the soundtrack of “Midnight Cowboy”, but Dylan could not deliver it in time), and the new version of “Girl from the North Country” (already included in “The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan”, 1963) alongside Johnny Cash. The rest of the cake isn't bad, but it doesn't particularly stand out. “Nashville Skyline Rag”, the first instrumental in Dylan's production, represents a commendable diversion.
The cover is as brazen as the musical choices: it shows a smiling Dylan, tipping his hat, as if to respectfully greet (with a certain irony) the audience, both the one he already has, and the one he intends, perhaps, to win over, introducing them to less “gloomy” atmospheres.

Bob is now a family man, and he tries to stay out of the trouble that his previous life, as a rockstar, had entailed. It's a relatively calm period, during which “Nashville Skyline” is recorded, but if the critics keep sticking the term “spokesperson for a generation” on him, the fans, in pestering the artist, are no less: unwelcome and untimely visits by admirers, or by simple “vultures” entering Dylan's country property are not rare, damaging his reputation with the neighbors: “The neighbors hated us. For them, I was nothing more than a carnival show”.

Like the successful “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” by the Byrds (who, in making it, were actually inspired by Bob, specifically “John Wesley Harding”), “Nashville Skyline” restores dignity to country music, without trivializing or rejuvenating it – except marginally –.
More simply, with all its brazenness, the artist enjoys doing what he loves, and also manages to get moved, as in the duet with Johnny Cash. Cash writes the album's liner notes, where he declares, in a way as precise as can be: “There are those who do not imitate, who cannot imitate, but then there are those who emulate at times, to further expand the light of an original flare; knowing that imitating the living is parody, and imitating the dead is theft, there are those who are complete beings in themselves …”.
Chapeau! … both to Roberto and to Giovanni.