On 7 June, 1969 Bob Dylan walked out onto the sound stage at the first edition of The Johnny Cash Show, ABC’s new TV music variety special, taped at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry. The set was a mock-up of a large rustic living room, with bare stone walls, bold soft furnishings, a grandfather clock and some ornate baronial touches. Dylan played three songs that day including a duet with Johnny Cash on Girl From The North Country, a song that appeared on Dylan’s ninth studio album, Nashville Skyline.
The event marked the culmination of a friendship and mutual admiration that started back in 1964. In his memoir Cash: The Autobiography, the late country legend recalled taking a portable record player out on tour in 1963 and playing The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album backstage, before and after each of his shows. Cash went on to include three Dylan songs – It Ain’t Me Babe, Mama You’ve Been On My Mind and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right – on his 1965 album, Orange Blossom Special.
