Forty years ago, on January 10, 1971, Bob Dylan appeared in the NBC documentary, “Earl Scruggs: His Family & Friends.”

Dylan opens the documentary singing and playing “East Virginia Blues,” accompanied by Scruggs and others. They also perform the instrumental “Nashville Skyline Rag.”

In 1968, Flatt and Scruggs had released an album, Nashville Airplane, that included four Dylan songs: “Like A Rolling Stone,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and “The Times They Area A-Changin’.” That album was produced by Dylan’s producer, Bob Johnston, and utilized many of the session musicians Dylan used on Blonde On Blonde and his other Nashville sessions. Other Flatt and Scruggs Dylan covers appeared on 1970’s Final Fling.

Also from the Scruggs documentary, this cool performance of Scruggs and The Byrds performing, in the second half of the video, Dylan’s “Basement Tapes” song, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”:

Here’s Clarence Ashley singing “East Virginia Blues.” Dylan likely knew this version:

And here’s a version by Roscoe Holcomb:

Flatt and Scruggs, “Like A Rolling Stone”:

Flatt and Scruggs, “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”:

-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-