Bob Johnston Collection, circa 1950-circa 1989

Biographical Note

Born Don W. Johnston in Hillsboro, Texas, in 1932, Robert "Bob" Johnston entered the music business in the 1950s as a songwriter and musician on demonstration records. As a staff producer for CBS Records in New York City, head of CBS in Nashville, and later as an independent producer, Johnston produced a string of gold and platinum albums, beginning in the mid-1960s. His major hits include Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and Nashville Skyline, Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, and Leonard Cohen's Songs from a Room and Songs of Love and Hate. Furthermore, he worked with Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Lindisfarne, and Jimmy Cliff. Johnston wrote a number of songs and film scores, including music for Kris Kristofferson's first film Cisco Pike, Robert Redford's Little Fauss and Big Halsy, and I Walk the Line, starring Gregory Peck. In addition to his musical work, Johnston co-produced and narrated the documentary The Other Side of Nashville, a portrait of the Music City from an insider's point of view. A founder of the World Children's Corporation in 1975, Johnston engaged in charitable work devoted to the welfare of homeless and underprivileged children.

Johnston died in 2015.

Scope and Contents

Composed of classified files, audio and video recordings, publications, and artifacts, the Bob Johnston Collection, circa 1950-circa 1989, documents the music industry career of Johnston while a CBS staff producer in New York and Nashville as well as an independent producer. Organized alphabetically, the classified files for Johnston's projects and work with specific artists and musicians consist of newspaper clippings, biographies, correspondence, travel schedules, proposed recording expenses, financial records, scrapbooks, and photographs. Example topics include a recording project in China, the World Children's Corporation, and musicians, such as Jimmy Cliff, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, and the Bama Band. Comprised of 45-rpm singles, LPs, 10- and 7-inch reels, audiocassettes, test discs, and 16mm films, the more than 2,300 audio and film recordings contain test pressings, studio master tapes, and commercial recordings produced by Johnston for classical, jazz, country, and pop musicians, such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Tracy Nelson, Joe Ely, and Aretha Franklin. The publications contain sheet music and songbooks as well as books on music, literature, art, and general social science topics. Artifacts include framed gold and platinum records, music industry awards and plaques, and a signed Waterboys drumhead.

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

A portion of this collection is stored remotely; contact repository in advance for retrieval.

Access to some audiovisual formats requires an appointment; contact repository for more information.

Access to artifacts requires an appointment; contact repository for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply; contact repository for more information.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Bob Johnston Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Accession Number(s)

1992-082

Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center's "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.

Subsequent processing by Colleen Hobbs, September 2020.

This collection contains unprocessed materials.

Detailed Description of the Collection