Bob Dylan may follow up his latest Bootleg Series release,The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings, with a collection of recordings he did in the late '60s.
A Dylan source tells Rolling Stone, "We’re thinking about possibly doing Bob’s work in Nashville from John Wesley Harding through the Johnny Cash sessions... The outtakes from that period have never been heard.”
The Cash sessions refer to when The Man in Black joined Bob on February 18th, 1969 at the end of the sessions for [Dylan's]Nashville Skyline album.
They turned out a re-recording of Dylan's “Girl From the North Country,” which is on Nashville Skyline, but they did more that day, which has never been released. Among the songs they cut are “Wanted Man” -- which Cash played at San Quentin just one week after the session -- “Matchbox,” “Mystery Train,” “You Are My Sunshine,” “Ring of Fire,” “Careless Love” and “Big River.”
The source adds, “We’re trying to find one really good take of each song. The giant dumps of everything like we’ve done in recent years really aren’t my preference. I like stuff that is more curated.”
Another possible Bootleg release is a collection of recordings from 1997'sTime Out of Mind. The source says, “If there are still people putting out physical records for [the album’s] 25th anniversary in 2022, we’ll possibly release it then.”
Also up for consideration are numerous live recordings from before he signed to Columbia Records in 1961, the sessions for 1983’s Infidels and 1985’s Empire Burlesque, his work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and a collection of "stray tracks,” meaning "movie tracks, one-off tracks and things like that are hard to find."
But Dylan's camp is also thinking of retiring the Bootleg Series when the industry ceases putting out physical releases. "Doing the beautiful package that we put together can only be supported not by streaming, but by physical purchases. The last one sold well, but the places to buy them are going away. You either buy them on Amazon or our website or your local indie record store. It’s just hard.”