Bob Johnston, Producer for Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Has Died

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Still from BAMM.tv interview with Johnston

Bob Johnston, the veteran producer who worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, and Simon and Garfunkel, has died, as Rolling Stone reports. He was 83 years old. He passed away last Friday, following a stay in hospice care. 

Johnston got his start writing songs for Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, which led him toward a job as an in-house producer at Columbia Records. He linked up with Dylan for a fertile patch of his career, producing landmark records such as 1965's Highway 61 Revisited, 1966's Blonde on Blonde, 1967's John Wesley Harding, and 1969's Nashville Skyline. 

Johnston also produced Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, Leonard Cohen's Songs From a Room and Songs of Love and Hate, and Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Additionally, he produced records by the Byrds, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Cliff, Moby Grape, Pete Seeger, and more. 

The Austin Chronicle quotes a friend of Johnston's who described his final days: "Swinging, swaying, and waving around his hands, telling stories out loud, entertaining and consuming all those that saw and heard him. Bob’s wife told me he pass[ed] away peacefully. The grand master waved his magical wand for the last time, then disappeared off into the night."

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