Sam Phillips

OK Chris, I give - who the heck is Bob Johnson? Are you maybe referring to John Hammond?

Alex, I should have mentioned Hammond, too! Bob Johnson was the producer of:

Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde On Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
Self Portrait
and co-producer of New Morning.

These are arguably some of the greatest recordings in Dylan's canon, and in the minds of some, in rock history. So, I attribute their success, in part (maybe in large part) to Bob Johnson. I think if Highway 61 had been a flop, Dylan would have been a footnote in rock history.

Chris, I just went and checked, and on "61" the name is actually listed as Bob Johnston, though it still only vaguely rang a bell with me. But the hit single "Like a Rolling Stone" was produced by Tom Wilson, with who's name and work I am much more familiar (I guess I always assumed that Wilson was *the* mid-60's Dylan producer). Was Johnston a staff producer at Columbia? Do you know some of his work with other artists? (Sorry Hervel to take off on a tangent...learn something new every day...)

Alex,
Since you asked, here's some of his work! There's a link to an interview with him at the end of this post.

Simon & Garfunkel:
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme
Sounds of Silence
Bookends

Leonard Cohen:
Songs From a Room
Songs of Love and Hate

Johnny Cash:
At Folsom Prison
At San Quentin

Others:
The Byrds
Marty Robbins
Patti Page
Willie Nelson
Dan Hicks
New Riders of the Purple Sage

http://www.mixonline.com/ar/audio_bob_johnston

Of course, it's ironic that you list Johnny Cash - brings us right back to Sam Phillips. Listening to Cash talk about Phillips on radio's Fresh Air, it was clear just how much Cash really was *produced* by Phillips. Maybe he would have become a star anyway without the start he got at Sun, but maybe not.

Not to pick too many nits, but of the S&G LP's listed, as far as I can tell only P,S,R,&T listed Johnston as producer(this based on quick web research - my LP copies are in my storage unit as I write - also ironically, Wednesday 3AM, S&G's less-successful all-acoustic first LP, was produced by Tom Wilson). The popular Byrds stuff was produced for the most part by Terry Melcher, Gary Usher, or Jim Dickson. Of course, none of that means he wasn't involved on one level or another with everything or everybody you've listed - I'll go read the interview, thanks for the link.

However, I would not agree that any of above-mentioned producers have anywhere near the overall importance of Sam Phillips. Phillips was a visionary who not only basically created the characteristic slap-echo sound of rockabilly, he recorded Jackie Brenston's (really Ike Turner's) seminal #1 R&B hit "Rocket 88", often cited as the arbitrary 'first' rock & roll record, which launched Chess Records into the big time independents. He can only be discussed in the same league as such producer/engineer/label owner pioneers like the Chess brothers or the Ertegun brothers. In his operation, he was like a rock & roll Alfred Lion and Rudy Van Gelder rolled into one. If he had done nothing beyond just recording Howlin' Wolf's first sessions, his place would still be secure, but he also recorded Rosco Gordon, Rufus Thomas, BB King, Walter Horton, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Honeyboy Edwards, Junior Parker, James Cotton, Sleepy John Estes, Ma Rainey, Earl Hooker, Johnny Ace, Pinetop Perkins, and many other lesser-known blues and R&B lights, many of who's Phillips sides were released on other independent labels before he created Sun and discovered Elvis, et. al.