The Bootleg Series Volume 15
Travelin' Thru 1967-1969 (2019)


Sampler
 

  1. I Pity the Poor Immigrant
  2. I am a Lonesome Hobo
  3. To Be Alone with You
  4. Lay Lady Lay
  5. Tell Me That it isn't True
  6. Country Pie
  7. I Still Miss Someone (w/Johnny Cash)
  8. Matchbox (w/Johnny Cash)
  9. Big River (w/Johnny Cash)
  10.Girl from the North Country (w/Johnny Cash)
  11.Guess Things Happen That Way (w/Johnny Cash)
  12.Wanted Man (w/Johnny Cash)
  13.Ring of Fire
  14.East Virginia Blues

 

With the fifteenth installment of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series, the curatorial gaze turns to one of his most enigmatic transitional periods—the late 1960s, when Dylan, having retreated from public life and electric tumult, re-emerged with a quieter, more rural voice. The collection, titled Travelin’ Thru, surveys the sessions surrounding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and the brief but intriguing collaboration with Johnny Cash. It is, like its predecessors, both illuminating and indulgent.

By now, the Bootleg Series has established its own peculiar rhythm: comprehensive multi-disc editions for the archivist, and single-disc samplers for the casual enthusiast or discerning collector. For this review, the focus remains on the latter. Even so, the larger question persists—how many such releases can reasonably command attention in a landscape already saturated with digital access and archival abundance? The material itself, however, holds undeniable historical interest. John Wesley Harding—recorded in the wake of Dylan’s motorcycle accident—marked a deliberate withdrawal from the baroque surrealism of Blonde on Blonde. Its sound was stark, almost biblical, with a moral clarity that resonated like a parable set to folk melody. Nashville Skyline, by contrast, embraced the polished ease of country-pop, complete with Dylan’s much-discussed vocal transformation—a mellow croon that seemed to arrive from another body entirely.

The sampler presents alternate takes and outtakes from both sessions. While the performances are often subtle variations rather than radical reinterpretations, they provide valuable insight into Dylan’s artistic decisions—how a phrase is bent, a tempo shifted, or a harmony introduced. Yet for all their charm, these variations seldom surpass the versions that ultimately made the albums. The appeal here lies more in observation than in revelation.

The most novel content comes in the form of the previously unreleased studio rehearsals with Johnny Cash. Their historic duet, Girl from the North Country, was included on Nashville Skyline, but here we are offered a broader (and often rambling) set of exchanges—half-formed songs, jovial asides, and spontaneous improvisations. These sessions are undeniably endearing, capturing two American icons in relaxed conversation, yet they rarely cohere into compelling musical statements. Their appeal is anecdotal, their value largely archival.

In truth, the Bootleg Series has, for some time now, been more about preservation than provocation. Travelin’ Thru neither redefines Dylan’s late ’60s output nor challenges existing narratives. It adds color to the margins, texture to the known canvas. For completists and scholars, it is a welcome expansion. For others, it may amount to one more pleasant, perhaps necessary, but ultimately non-essential addition to an already vast and complex body of work.

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