Record producer Bob Johnston passed away on Friday at the age of 83.

Johnston produced a who’s who of rock and country acts including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, Marty Robbins, Flatt & Scruggs, Leonard Cohen, Michael Martin Murphey, Hoyt Axton, Jimmy Cliff, Alvin Lee, Patti Page, Willie Nelson, Carl Perkins, The Byrds and The New Riders of the Purple Sage. 

He would produce six of Dylan’s albums – Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning. 

He wasn’t a household name, but I knew about him because of Nashville Skyline. On the intro to the track “To Be Alone With You”, Dylan asks, “Is it rolling Bob?” The Bob in question was Bob Johnston and the answer is yes, it was rolling.