BBC R2 Documentary - 'Nashville Cats: The Making of Blonde On Blonde'
Presented by Bill Nighy
Broadcast May 16, 2011
Coded from a digital source at 128/44.1

BBC Blurb
Bill Nighy presents the definitive story of what really went down on tape, and in the studio,
during the recording of Bob Dylan's 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.
Blurb off