How Country Music Influenced the Sound of Bob Dylan

When most music fans think of Bob Dylan, they likely think of Americana folk songs with an abundance of metaphors and a knack for addressing timeless issues. Still, especially in his later career, many audience members might not be aware of Dylan’s fondness for the country genre and its impact on much of his later work.

Dylan’s Love for Hank Williams

Growing up in Missouri as a child, Bob Dylan would have been exposed to many country and western tunes, notably artists like the Stanley Brothers and Hank Williams, whom he has often described as a personal musical idol.

In his autobiography, “Chronicles,” Dylan describes Williams as having words where “all the syllables make perfect mathematical sense,” and being not just a “hillbilly singer,” but also a poet.

Similarly to Hank Williams, much of Dylan’s music stems from a personal place, and he found that inspiring, given that Williams had a lot of internal struggles that carried his music forward as well. Aside from performing much of Williams’ music, Dylan also participated in an album project called The Last Notebooks Of Hank Williams, where he contributed by setting music to the words of “The Love That Faded”, which contained unfinished lyrics by Williams himself. Dylan saw Williams not only as a great country singer but also as a profound songwriter.

Dylan’s Take on Country Music

Later in his career, Bob Dylan would gradually shift his direction toward country music, particularly with the release of projects like John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline in the late 1960s. John Wesley Harding presented a hard contrast from the genres he had immersed himself in before and was very acoustic-focused as a whole. It also contrasted with much of the music in the outside world at the time, which was dominated by psychedelic rock.

In Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan utilized not only his instruments but also his voice to transition to a more country sound. Although he attributed this change to quitting smoking, the deeper, crooning sound that replaced his usual, rather nasally tone blended with the genre change quite seamlessly. Where John Wesley Harding touched on elements of country music, Nashville Skyline dived headfirst into the genre, incorporating bass, pedal steel guitar, and more acoustic sounds. It even included a duet with Dylan’s longtime friend, Johnny Cash, with whom Dylan famously wrote and sang.

Although Dylan’s wheelhouse wasn’t country music from the start, his discography and inspirations reveal that much of his work is influenced by the genre, serving as a gateway for him to make it his own eventually.

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