Last Update: 04/05/2026 at 2:50 PM EST
Cash And Dylan Share A Musical Lineage
Coverage from Best Classic Bands, The Joker and the Thief, and others
Articles
19
Latest Article
03/25
Active Days
4018
Executive Summary
Cash and Dylan traded songs and influence across the 1960s, turning a shared folk melody into lasting friendship and collaboration
- Paul Clayton's 1960 song appears to be the melody source for Dylan and Cash
- Dylan released Dont Think Twice, Its All Right in August 1963
- Cash released Understand Your Man in January 1964 using a closely related melody
- Cindy Cash said her father asked Dylan for permission to use the tune
- Cash and Dylan met in New York in the early 1960s after corresponding by letter
- They later recorded together in 1969 during Nashville Skyline sessions
- Dylan called Cash a North Star and praised him after his death
Quick Facts
- What: Shared songs, covers, and a borrowed folk melody
- Where: New York City and Nashville recording sessions
- Why: Mutual respect shaped their friendship and musical exchange
- Who: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
- When: Early 1960s through 1969 and beyond
Coverage Timeline: 4018 Days
Featured Article
Bob Johnston recalls Nashville recording sessions for Dylan's mid-1960s albums in Nashville, highlighting pragmatic take choices, minimal overdubs, and cross-genre collaboration with Johnny Cash.
Additional Articles
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In 1964, Sing Out! published an open letter questioning Bob Dylan’s new artistic direction, later prompting a supportive response from Johnny Cash.
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The article traces a four year melody lineage from Paul Clayton to Dylan to Johnny Cash across the early 1960s folk scene.
In a Medium feature drawn from Rock N Roll Archaeology, the author examines Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's formative years in Minnesota and Memphis.
Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline era and his collaborations with Johnny Cash in Nashville, 1969, are highlighted.
Bob Dylan praised Johnny Cash's songwriting and cited 'Big River' as high art while recalling their early 1960s meeting in a New York City hotel.
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Dylan recorded Blonde on Blonde in Nashville and the Country Music Hall of Fame opened an exhibit about Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats.
Johnny Cash shielded Bob Dylan from a press interview on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969.
Johnny Cash heard Bob Dylan in Las Vegas, sparking a friendship and collaborations including the duet Girl From The North Country.
Johnny Cash's Forever Young cover was recorded for the 1994 Red Hot + Country compilation, with Dylan's Biograph demo also noted.
Bob Dylan joined a living room gathering at Johnny Cash's house in the late 1960s in Nashville, Tennessee, where artists shared songs that would become hits.
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash forged a decades-long friendship that began in a New York City hotel in the early 1960s and led to shared performances and a Nashville Skyline cameo.
Cindy Cash described how Johnny Cash secured Bob Dylan's permission to use Dont Think Twice Its All Right melody for Understand Your Man, with a later Nashville duet recorded in 1969.
Johnny Cash praises Dylan as a leading songwriter, recalling their 1969 Nashville Skyline duet in the United States.
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash recorded together in 1969 during Nashville Skyline sessions in Nashville, Tennessee, with Girl From the North Country released on the album.
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's first meeting at Newport Folk Festival in the early 1960s is depicted in A Complete Unknown, now released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
On the twenty-second anniversary of Johnny Cash's death, friends such as Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard and Rick Rubin shared personal tributes and memories across interviews and remembrances.
Bob Dylan said in a Rolling Stone tribute that Johnny Cash was a North Star.
Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan formed a lasting friendship after meeting at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, later recording the 1969 duet Girl From the North Country.