Donovan agreed to have Rubin produce his next album, and prepared over one hundred songs for the recording sessions. The sessions were to feature sparse instrumentation, much like the sessions that made Cash's "American Recordings" such a success. Rubin insisted that Donovan listen to the folk material that Donovan recorded for Pye Records in 1964 and '65 for inspiration. The recording sessions commenced in 1995 with mixing of the song "El Dorado" in Los Angeles by Sylvia Massy. The deeply meditative "Sutras" was released late the following year.