Johnny Cash's populist fusion of folk, country, and gospel done up with an unhurried, plainspoken eloquence made him both a country icon and an American treasure. Whether singing his own songs or covering songs written by young alternative rockers in his autumn years, anything he touched became vintage Johnny Cash as soon as he stepped to the microphone. This collection includes the classics "I Walk the Line" and "Big River" as well as Cash's fine version of Bob Dylan's "Wanted Man," but it lacks essentials like "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues," and ends up being a little hit or miss, but – as they say – any Johnny Cash beats no Johnny Cash at all.
John Wesley Harding suggested country with its textures and structures, but Nashville Skyline was a full-fledged country album, complete with steel guitars and brief, direct songs. It's a warm, friendly album, particularly since Bob Dylan is singing in a previously unheard gentle croon – the sound of his voice is so different it may be disarming upon first listen, but it suits the songs…
If Good as I Been to You was a strong traditionalist folk record, World Gone Wrong was an exceptional one, boasting an exceptional set of songs given performances so fully realized that they seemed like modern protest songs…
Mastered from the Original Master Tapes and Limited to 2,500 Numbered Copies: Sonically Superb SACD Presents the Music in True-to-the-Original Mono.
This album comprised the first full-length work by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings as a duo, though they had previously worked together as part of the Highwaymen, the existence of whose three LPs may account for the relative neglect that Heroes has received. And it is one of the most obscure records in either artist's output, a fact that's astonishing, given the quality of the music, the singing, and the overall production. Co-produced by Chips Moman, and with Cash and Jennings at the top of their game (and so good at what they do that they make it sound easy), there's not a weak point anywhere here.
You've got to be a Johnny Cash fan to truly appreciate what's happening on the third volume in Legacy's Bootleg series Live Around the World. This double-disc collection contains 53 tracks culled from 23 years, 1956 to 1979. The heart of its performances are from the Newport Folk Festival in 1964; a show for the troops in Long Binh, Vietnam in 1969; for Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970, and at the Osteraker Prison in Sweden in 1972…
Sony’s Legacy Recordings continues the long running Bob Dylan ‘Bootleg Series’ as they announce Travelin’ Thru 1967-1969: The Bootleg Series vol 15 which revisits Dylan’s musical journeys to Nashville from 1967-1969, focusing on previously unavailable recordings made with Johnny Cash and unreleased tracks from the John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, and Self Portrait sessions.