The Producers Are A-Changin’

Over the years, Bob Dylan has worked with many producers and engineers, including Jerry Wexler, Debbie Gold, Barry Beckett, Mark Knopfler, Don Was, Phil Ramone, Chuck Plotkin, Don Devito, and others. Nowadays, he tends to produce himself, and he coyly calls his work “Jack Frost Productions.”

Four producers that had a significant effect on his recording career were John Hammond, Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston, and Daniel Lanois. They captured Dylan’s performances at different junctures and assisted in making classic albums. Here’s how they helped Dylan mix up the medicine.

John Hammond (Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan)

Legendary Columbia Records producer Hammond launched Dylan’s recording career. Dylan’s first two albums were produced by Hammond and on each he let Dylan sing and play whatever he fancied.

Hammond saw something special in the then twenty-year-old Dylan and let him play music that was not limited to folk. I interviewed Dylan biographer Elijah Wald (Dylan Goes Electric) about the first record. He said Dylan’s pop and rock sensibilities are evident right from the start. “If you listen to Dylan’s playing on the track ‘Highway 51’ it sounds exactly like the pop hit ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ by the Everly Brothers. It has the same hard strumming guitar sound and is a notable example of his ability to transcend the folk blues tradition that was ubiquitous at the time in early 60s Greenwich Village.”

This first outing was eclectic, but it did not sell. In fact, Dylan was called “Hammond’s Folly” by some at Columbia Records. Hammond, however, stuck by him. It was The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the second one that Hammond produced which received artistic and commercial success. Freewheelin’ is packed with classis such as, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Hard Rain-a-Gonna Fall” and “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.”  These songs established the young Dylan. Although he was in great hands with Hammond, Dylan turned to Tom Wilson for his next three records.

Tom Wilson (Sun Ra, Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention)

Wilson worked with Dylan on The Times Are a-Changing, Another Side of Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home.   These showcased Dylan’s versatility as a folk and folk-rock singer-songwriter. Like Hammond, Wilson provided Dylan encouragement and all the freedom he wanted in the studio. Wilson, also more than other producers, had a penchant for encouraging Dylan’s humorous side to come through. Dylan nervously laughs during the recording of “All I Really Want to Do,” and instead of doing another take, they left it in. Wilson even joins in on the laughter that can be heard at the beginning of the track, “Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream.” Perhaps Wilson made his presence a little too known, because after these three landmark albums, Dylan abruptly cut ties and switched to Bob Johnston to produce him.

Bob Johnston (Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel)

Johnston’s approach was to let Dylan call all the shots and to record what happened. This suited Dylan’s mercurial ways and allowed for marathon late-night sessions in Nashville and NYC. It was a no-fuss method that produced stunning results and was at odds with many of the records being produced during this time.

While other artists used studio effects and exotic instrumentation, Dylan leaned toward stripped-down productions. Johnston did not add Moog synthesizers, tubular bells, sitars, or gongs to any tracks. There’s no echo, distortion, or feedback. For example, listen to 1967’s “All Along the Watchtower” and compare it to Jimi Hendrix’s ’68 version. Dylan’s original features acoustic guitar, bass, harmonica, and a quiet drum sound. Hendrix does the opposite. He ignites the song with a screaming electric guitar, which sounds like an ominous thunder and lightning storm.

Dylan’s original got transformed in Hendrix’s version, and it became the one everyone knows. The relationship between Dylan and Johnston lasted longer than his first two producers, but it came to an end in 1973.   Dylan’s contract with Columbia Records was up, and he investigated leaving. His relationship with Johnston ceased. Dylan eventually got back to the Columbia fold and recorded with mixed results, and then Daniel Lanois entered the picture.

Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris)

Oh Mercy was the first recording Lanois produced for Dylan. Like the other three producers, Lanois provided Dylan support and space. But one critical difference was that he was an extraordinarily talented musician and played on the tracks while the other producers did not.

Outtakes from these sessions show that Lanois and Dylan tried different instruments and textures to bring out each song’s magic. “Most of the Time,” for example, ended up being a slow-paced, reverb-heavy electric swirl on the released album, but it started as a fast, acoustic guitar shuffle.

Time Out of Mind was their next success and sadly their last collaboration. TOOM won the Grammy for “Album of the Year” and another Dylan renaissance commenced.

Reflecting on the creation of TOOM, Lanois enthused, “I couldn’t sleep. Bob had written powerful lyrics, and I felt we were on the verge of something great. We had found a way to embrace the sounds of old American records, and my mind started to race.”  Lanois pondered, “This could be the greatest record ever.”  Some say it is.

-Vincent Maganzini

Photo: public domain