Johnston, who worked in the music industry for more than 50 years, was being cared for at a hospice in Nashville, Tennessee, and he passed away on Friday (14Aug15), according to Billboard.com.

He was a former staff producer at Columbia Records, and soon went independent, working with the likes of Dylan, Cash, Simon and Garfunkel, and Leonard Cohen.

Johnston worked on six albums with Dylan in the 1960s and 1970s, including Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Self Portrait.

He also worked with Cohen on Songs of Love and Hate, and linked up with Simon and Garfunkel on their early albums Sound of Silence, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. He paired up with Cash on six albums, most notably At Folsom Prison and I Walk The Line.