Bob Dylan’s Nashville Sessions Explored in ‘Travelin’ Thru’ Mini-Doc

Bob Dylan’s late-Sixties Nashville studio sessions — and his collaborations with Johnny Cash — are explored in the mini-documentary The Story Of Travelin’ Thru, 1967 – 1969, the companion visual to the just-released 15th volume in Dylan’s Bootleg Series.

The seven-minute film features new interviews with Rosanne Cash, Darius Rucker and Jason Isbell, and includes archival footage from Dylan’s Nashville sojourn, including in-the-studio video of Dylan and Cash.

“It was a revolution in music, in attitude, and understanding how incredibly powerful the cross-pollination of country and folk and rock was, and natural for the time,” Rosanne Cash says of Dylan’s Nashville era, which yielded the albums John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. “Bob had an enormous impact on what was going on in Nashville. He was following his instincts to seek out these musicians because it was inspiring to him.”

The mini-doc ends with footage from Dylan and Cash’s “Girl From the North Country” duet from The Johnny Cash Show, a performance that was also recently featured in the Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary.

Travelin’ Thru, out today, boasts alternate takes of songs from the John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline sessions, as well as unreleased recordings that Cash and Dylan laid down.