Columbia Studio A Nashville (Blonde on Blonde sessions)

In February and March 1966, on the recommendation of producer Bob Johnston, Bob Dylan relocated his Blonde on Blonde recording sessions from New York to Columbia's Studio A on Music Row in Nashville. Alongside Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson brought from New York, Johnston assembled Nashville session musicians including Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss, Joe South, and Kenny Buttrey. The result was Blonde on Blonde, widely considered one of the greatest rock albums ever made and the first double album in rock history. Dylan returned to record John Wesley Harding (1967) and Nashville Skyline (1969) at the same studio, helping legitimise country-influenced rock as a serious artistic direction.

The studio opened in 1965, purpose-built with 25-foot ceilings for the natural acoustic resonance that distinguished Nashville recordings of the era. Between 1962 and 1982 the room hosted sessions by Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Roger Miller, and many others. Dylan's choice to record here was controversial among his folk audience at the time, but the sessions proved that Nashville's musicians could serve any genre with consummate skill. The producer Kris Kristofferson worked as a janitor at the studio in this period, sweeping the floors where Dylan was making Blonde on Blonde.

Columbia closed Studio A in 1982. In 2005, philanthropist Mike Curb purchased the building and funded a full restoration. Studio A reopened in 2014 as a working studio and educational facility operated by Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. Students use the restored room for hands-on music production and audio engineering training. The studio is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Music Row historic district.