The The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971 [Bonus Track]

by Johnny Cash

Overview

Johnny Cash wasn't the first major country music star to host a television series, but he was the first to have a weekly show on a major network, and given Cash's eclectic willingness to embrace any kind of music as long as it was good and honest, it's not surprising that during its two years on the air The Johnny Cash Show featured a variety of noted musical artists who didn't often appear on television, including Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, Neil Young, and Bill Monroe. None of those performers appear on this CD drawn from the archives of The Johnny Cash Show (though they can be seen on a companion DVD set released by Columbia/Legacy), and the big studio band that muddies the arrangements of "I Walk the Line," "Daddy Sang Bass," and "I've Been Everywhere" on this disc prove that for all Cash's brave good intentions, there were some conventions of American television he wasn't able to escape. It's also hard to say why, given the star-studded roster of artists who graced Cash's stage, this disc features Bobby Bare, Lynn Anderson, and Tammy Wynette instead of, say, Stevie Wonder, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Pete Seeger (though in all fairness Bare's rendition of "Detroit City" on this album is terrific). The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show doesn't quite deliver the show's most historically significant and exciting moments, but what's here is generally pretty good. Ray Charles delivers a passionate reading of "Ring of Fire," Cash duets memorably with Joni Mitchell on "Girl from the North Country," Waylon Jennings sings "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" with his usual casual authority (and his banter with Cash is spontaneous and funny) and Kris Kristofferson is near the top of his game as a performer as he sings "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)," while Cash delivers the goods with strong renditions of "Flesh and Blood" and "Belshazzar." Johnny Cash's television series was a fearless experiment in bringing the best of American music to the small screen, and the DVD collection demonstrates that it often achieved that lofty goal; this CD doesn't hit that same target, even if it does preserve a few pearls from the Cash archive. [The disc was also released with a bonus track,] ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	01/08/2008
Label:	Bmg / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886976948825
Rank:	117546

Tracks

1. I Walk the Line [From the Johnny Cash TV Show]  - Johnny Cash
2. Flesh and Blood  - Johnny Cash
3. Stand by Your Man  - Tammy Wynette
4. She Thinks I Still Care/Love Bug/The Race Is On  - Johnny Cash  - George Jones
5. I've Been Everywhere  - Lynn Anderson  - Johnny Cash
6. Johnny One Time  - Brenda Lee
7. Ring of Fire  - Ray Charles
8. I Never Will Marry  - Johnny Cash
9. It's Too Late  -  Derek and the Dominos
10. A Boy Named Sue  - Johnny Cash
11. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)  - Kris Kristofferson
12. Only the Lonely/Pretty Woman  - Roy Orbison
13. Belshazzar  -  Carter Sisters  - Johnny Cash
14. Brown Eyed Handsome Man  - Waylon Jennings
15. Girl from the North Country  - Johnny Cash  - Joni Mitchell
16. Fire and Rain  - James Taylor
17. I Walk the Line: Reprise with Closing Monologue  - Johnny Cash

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Johnny Cash   Primary Artist
Carter Sisters   Primary Artist
Mother Maybelle Carter   Primary Artist
June Carter Cash   Primary Artist
George Jones   Primary Artist
Derek and the Dominos   Primary Artist
Kris Kristofferson   Primary Artist
Lynn Anderson   Primary Artist
Ray Charles   Primary Artist
Bobby Bare   Primary Artist
Tammy Wynette   Primary Artist
The Statler Brothers   Primary Artist
Joni Mitchell   Primary Artist
James Taylor   Primary Artist
Waylon Jennings   Primary Artist
Roy Orbison   Primary Artist
Brenda Lee   Primary Artist
Carl Perkins   Primary Artist
The Carter Family   Primary Artist
The Tennessee Three   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Al Quaglieri   Audio Production,Producer
Andy Manganello   Engineer
Les Leverett   Cover Photo,Photography
Randall Martin   Graphic Design
Mark Rinaldi   Engineer
Richard J. Alcock   Supervising Producer
Jim Marshall   Photography
Seth Foster   Engineer
Steven Berkowitz   Supervising Producer
Margie Hunt   Executive Consultant
Bob Johnston   Mixing
Pablo Arraya   Mixing
John Jackson   Project Director,Supervising Producer
Chris Athens   Mastering
June Carter Cash   Executive Producer
Woody Pornpitaksuk   Engineer
Bram Tobey   Engineer
Thom Cadley   Mixing
Rich Kienzle   Liner Notes
Lou Robin   Executive Producer