Når man kan skrive Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash og Leonard Cohen på sin CV, så er man ikke en hr-hvemsomhelst i musiklivet. Og det kunne produceren Bob Johnston, der nu er dø i en alder af 83 år.

Johnston kom fra en gennemmusikalsk familie, hvor såvel moderen som bedstemoderen var kendte sangskrivere. Og efter at have aftjent sin værnepligt i den amerikanske marine begyndte Bob at skrive sange sammen med sin mor Dianae. Og under navnet Don Johnston producerede han også nogle singler med rockabilly. Det førte til jobs i små pladeselskaber i New York. Men det var, da han blev producer for Columbia Records grundlaget for hans succes blev lagt. Her fik han lov til at producere Dylan og de andre store navne.

Hvad hemmeligheden bag Johnstons succes som producer var, afslører Leonard Cohen præcist i bogen The Stranger Music of Leonard Cohen af William Ruhlmann:

“Bob Johnston was very sophisticated. His hospitality was extremely refined. It wasn’t just a matter of turning on the machines. He created an atmosphere in the studio that really invited you to do your best, stretch out, do another take, an atmosphere that was free from judgment, free from criticism, full of invitation, full of affirmation. Just the way he’d move while you were singing: He’d dance for you. So, it wasn’t all just as laissezfaire as that. Just as art is the concealment of art, laissezfaire is the concealment of tremendous generosity that he was sponsoring in the studio.”

Hvil i fred.

Fotoet ovenfor er lånt fra The Independent.