Bobby Gregg

Robert J. Gregg (born Robert Grego; April 30, 1936 – May 3, 2014) By 1962, he fronted Bobby Gregg and His Friends for an instrumental single, "The Jam - Part 1", which reached #14 on the Billboard R&B chart and #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The B-side of the single was "The Jam – Part 2". In 1964 and 1965, he released the singles "Any Number Can Win", "MacDougal Street", "It's Good to Me" and "Charly Ba-Ba". Gregg was brought in to play drums on the replacement backing track.

On June 15, 1965, when Dylan was ready to record "Like a Rolling Stone", several of the musician from the Bringing It All Back Home sessions including Gregg were called on to back him. Thus, it is Gregg's pistol-like snare drum shot that opens the song, as well as the album Highway 61 Revisited. "Like a Rolling Stone" eventually reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and in 2004 was named by Rolling Stone as the #1 song of all time.

The remainder of the Highway 61 Revisited album was recorded between July 29 and August 4, 1965. Gregg was the drummer for the July 29 and 30 sessions that produced "Tombstone Blues", "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" and "From a Buick 6". At the August 2 session at which "Queen Jane Approximately", "Highway 61 Revisited", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "Ballad of a Thin Man" were recorded, Sam Lay played the drums early in the session due to Gregg's other commitments, with Gregg joining the session later. Although Lay is believed to be the drummer on the album take of "Highway 61 Revisited" and played on several takes of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", the album take of the latter song is generally believed to be one that Gregg played on. Gregg was also the likely drummer for "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Ballad of a Thin Man", meaning that he played on all the songs on the album except "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Desolation Row" (on which there is no drum part); he is the only drummer credited on the album.

In November 1965, Gregg joined the Hawks, who were then backing Dylan on tour, when Hawks' drummer Levon Helm left. He recorded with Dylan in the November 30 sessions at which an early version of "Visions of Johanna" and possibly the single release of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" were recorded. He also recorded with Dylan at the January 1966 Blonde on Blonde sessions at which "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" was recorded, as well as several other songs which either did not make the album or were rerecorded later for the album, including "I'll Keep It With Mine", which was eventually released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.

Work with other artists In 1965 Tom Wilson, who had produced Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home and "Like a Rolling Stone" decided to experiment with electrifying the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Sound of Silence". An acoustic version of "The Sound of Silence" had been released on the Simon & Garfunkel album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.. It was also listed by Rolling Stone as the #156 song of all time.

In 1966, Gregg was one of the drummers backing Peter, Paul and Mary for their album The Peter, Paul and Mary Album.