How Johnny Cash Shut Down a Reporter on Behalf of Bob Dylan

Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan were friends, collaborators, pen pals, and even protectors of each other. A lot of their friendship resided behind the public eye, although every once in a while, a snippet about their relationship became public. A snippet that sometimes shows how deep their friendship was, and how they viewed each other as more than just two famous people with similar plights and musical tastes.

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Obviously, the most notable and concrete public record of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash’s friendship is during the creation of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and their duet on Dylan’s iconic tune “Girl From The North Country”. Other than that, all of the stories about Dylan and Cash resemble folklore and mystery. However, there is one story about the two that Johnny Cash vetted and actually told himself.

Johnny Cash Made Sure Bob Dylan Didn’t Have To Speak to the Press

In 1969, Johnny Cash finally aired his television show, The Johnny Cash Show, after much reluctance. However, one of the things that sold Cash on the show was that his first guest would be Bob Dylan. As a matter of fact, Cash wasn’t really going to take no for an answer. He wrote in his book Cash On Cash: Interviews And Encounters With Johnny Cash that “if I can’t have him, I don’t want to do a show.”

Like Cash, Dylan was also reluctant to do the show, but he ultimately agreed. However, Dylan had one strict rule he had set for himself—He wasn’t going to speak with any press. Given that he is Bob Dylan, reporters were trying to get a hold of him backstage. But, Johnny Cash stuck by his friend’s wish and shut down a reputable reporter who wanted to interview Dylan.

When the reporter asked Johnny Cash if Bob Dylan would do an interview, Cash shut him down.

“[The Reporter] said, ‘Will you ask him?’” Cash recalled in his book. “And I said, ‘No, he’s already said he won’t talk to press…’ and [The Reporter] said, ‘Just ask him for me.’ And I said, ‘I’ll mention to him that you called.’”

The next time Cash sat down with Dylan, he told him about the inquiry. And what do you think Dylan said? Well, it comes as no surprise that Dylan gave a resounding “no.” And that was that. Johnny Cash followed up on his promise and protected his good friend and musical collaborator, Bob Dylan.

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