NASHVILLE CAT

“I DON’T WANT another guitar player. I want him!” “Those were the nine words that completely changed my life,” Charlie Daniels recalls of Bob Dylan’s proclamation to producer Bob Johnston after hearing the relatively new studio musician play on the first 1969 Nashville Skyline session. “That just about blew my mind when I heard that! It was incredible news to me. Dylan’s regular guitarist wasn’t available that day, so Bob [Johnston], who was one of my dearest friends, had contacted me. I was only supposed to stay for one song, but as soon I finished, I was packing up to leave when Dylan asked Bob, ‘Where’s he going?’ and I wound up playing on the whole album.”

The results of those very special sessions, including the songs, “I Threw It All Away,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” “Country Pie” and “Lay Lady, Lay,” have just been issued in previously unreleased alternate versions on yet another of Dylan’s highly acclaimed Bootleg Series albums, this one dubbed Travelin’ Thru, 1967–1969.

Daniels’ superb musicianship not only led to him being invited to play on Dylan’s next two albums, Self Portrait and New Morning, but also brought him studio work with Ringo Starr, Leonard Cohen, Pete Seeger, the Marshall Tucker Band and others. However, Daniels freely admits, “I realized early on that I wasn’t cut out to be the quintessential studio musician. From the time I was a child, I dreamed of getting up onstage and entertaining people.”

At 83, Daniels is still entertaining people, performing over 100 highly energetic shows annually, while displaying remarkable versatility on guitar, mandolin, banjo and his trademark fiddle. A member of both the Country Music and the Musicians Hall of Fame, he enjoys