Bob Dylan
Best known for
Songwriter
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist whose 1966–1970 Nashville sessions with Charlie McCoy, Earl Scruggs collaborations, and Old Crow Medicine Show co-write of "Wagon Wheel" placed him among the most consequential bridges between mainstream pop, country, and the bluegrass tradition.
- Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing.
- Recorded a run of Nashville sessions (1966–1970) with Charlie McCoy as de facto bandleader, including "Blonde on Blonde," "John Wesley Harding," and "Nashville Skyline"; on "John Wesley Harding," McCoy played bass.
- "Nashville Skyline" (1969) leaned country/Nashville and helped catalyze the country-rock crossover that overlapped with the bluegrass world.
- Recorded with Earl Scruggs on May 17, 1970 for the PBS special "Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends" (aired January 1971), with Earl on banjo and sons Randy and Gary Scruggs on guitars.
- Flatt & Scruggs's 1968 "Nashville Airplane" included four bluegrass-style Dylan covers ("Like a Rolling Stone," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35") — a key bridge between Dylan and bluegrass.
- Co-wrote "Wagon Wheel" with Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor: the chorus/melody comes from Dylan's 1973 "Rock Me, Mama" demo (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid sessions); Secor added verses, and OCMS's recording was certified Platinum in 2013.
- "Travelin' Thru, 1967–1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15" (2019) collected the Cash and Scruggs sessions, documenting his deepest country/bluegrass-adjacent period.
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Bob DylanPlayed on recordings with Bob Dylan
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Ralph Stanley and FriendsPlayed on recording with Ralph Stanley and Friends