Music News

New Johnny Cash Gospel collection set for release

By Patrick Luce Mar 2, 2007, 16:59 GMT

He was a first generation Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, and the youngest living artist ever inducted into the Country Music Association Hall Of Fame – yet no music ever meant more to Johnny Cash for his entire life and recording career than the gospel upon which he was raised. “I am thrilled that recordings of some of Johnny’s favorite Gospel songs have been put together in a new CD. Johnny and June both loved to sing those old songs, which expressed so well the deep personal faith which was very important in their lives, and which has been so often overlooked in stories about them.” - Billy Graham

“I am thrilled that recordings of some of Johnny’s favorite Gospel songs have been put together in a new CD. Johnny and June both loved to sing those old songs, which expressed so well the deep personal faith which was very important in their lives, and which has been so often overlooked in stories about them.” - Billy Graham For the first time in the digital era, a single CD – containing 24 tracks (three of which are previously unreleased) and over 67 minutes of music – is devoted entirely to the music that was nearest and dearest to Johnny Cash’s heart, the sanctified hymns and traditional folk spirituals, contemporary church ballads, and evangelical evergreens that were the cornerstone of every show he ever performed, and nearly every album he ever recorded. ‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel’ will arrive in stores March 6th on Columbia/ Legacy, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, in conjunction with the re-launch of the companion single CD collection, ‘Elvis Presley – Ultimate Gospel.’‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel’ was compiled and produced by Gregg Geller, who compiled and produced 2005’s RIAA gold, Grammy Award-winning six-disc Columbia/Legacy box set, Johnny Cash – The Legend, and 2006’s Grammy-nominated Personal File. Geller is responsible for dozens of country music collections in the Legacy catalog, by artists ranging from Flatt & Scruggs to Willie Nelson. Geller’s credits include volumes in the Essential Series on George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell, and others, as well as the deluxe two-CD set, ‘Keep On The Sunny Side: June Carter Cash – Her Life In Music,’ released in tandem with ‘The Legend.’

‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel’ spans the first four decades of the Man In Black’s prolific recording career:The 1950s: The earliest tracks date from 1957, Johnny’s last complete year at Sun Records in Memphis – which belies the music history axiom that Sun mastermind Sam Phillips forbade him to record gospel. Working with the Tennessee Two (guitarist Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant on bass) and producer Jack Clement, Johnny slipped in a cover of “I Was There When It Happened” (written by Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, of “You Are My Sunshine” fame) and a Cash original, “Belshazzar,” based on the Book Of Daniel’s legend of the ill-fated Babylonian despot, son of the evil tyrant Nebuchadnezzar. These two are followed in turn by five songs from Johnny’s first three Columbia LPs, in which producer Don Law wisely gave free rein to Johnny’s gospel roots. From his Columbia debut, 1958’s ‘The Fabulous Johnny Cash,’ comes “That’s Enough,” from the repertoire of African-American gospel great Dorothy Love Coates. The second LP, a full program of ‘Hymns By Johnny Cash,’ included the Cash original “It Was Jesus” and many traditional numbers adapted by the singer, among them “The Old Account” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Johnny’s final album of the decade was ‘Songs Of Our Soil,’ the 1959 ‘concept’ LP in which his years as a Dyess, Arkansas farmboy at the knee of his mother Carrie Rivers Cash opened him up to many musical sources, among them homage to Roy Acuff on “The Great Speckle Bird.”The 1960s: Five albums later, 1962’s ‘Hymns From The Heart’ presented Johnny’s second all-gospel program at Columbia. “He’ll Understand And Say Well Done” is a traditional song adapted by Johnny, featuring the Tennessee Three (Perkins, Grant and drummer W.S. ‘Fluke’ Holland) and various Hollywood session singers and musicians, among them guitarist Johnny Western.

Having been tremendously influenced by their music for two decades, the Carter Family entered Johnny Cash’s life – and stage show – in 1961. They began recording together in Nashville the following year, the first results of which were heard on the best-selling summer 1963 LP, ‘Ring Of Fire (The Best of Johnny Cash).’ When Billboard debuted its new Hot Country Albums chart a half-year later, ‘Ring Of Fire’ was listed at #1, where it stayed 14 weeks, Johnny’s first RIAA gold album. Its mix of folk, gospel, ‘Civil War,’ gunslinger, hillbilly, and jukebox hits included the venerable old “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord” and Thomas A. Dorsey’s “There’ll Be Peace In the Valley For Me,” both long-associated with the Carter Family.

The Carter Family figured mightily in the Johnny Cash saga of the 1960s, and were heard on a succession of LPs. Among these were 1964’s career-defining ‘I Walk The Line,’ his second RIAA gold album, containing the seldom-heard Carter rarity “Troublesome Waters” (later recorded by Flatt & Scruggs). In 1968, shortly after their marriage, Johnny and June Carter Cash sojourned to Israel, a trip that was commemorated on the album ‘The Holy Land,’ produced by Bob Johnston (whose first assignment as Johnny’s producer was the live recording of At Folsom Prison in January ’68). In addition to the Cash original “He Turned The Water Into Wine” – marking the first “chronological” appearance of Carl Perkins on electric guitar in this collection – ‘The Holy Land’ was also the source for “Daddy Sang Bass,” written by Carl, with its heavenly meld of the Statler Brothers and Carter Family on background vocals.

The 1970s: Not surprisingly, this is the decade that is most represented with the bulk of tracks (a total of nine) on ‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel,’ beginning with the opening two tracks. “Here Was A Man” was written by Johnny Bond and Tex Ritter (of “Theme From High Noon” renown), from 1970’s The Johnny Cash Show, recorded live at the Grand Ole Opry. “The Preacher Said ‘Jesus Said’,” a showcase duet with the Rev. Billy Graham, opened 1971’s ‘Man In Black,’ Johnny’s first self-produced LP.

The Tennessee Three, Carl Perkins, the Carter Family, and an extended list of Nashville session players contributed to 1975’s ‘Precious Memories,’ sampled here with three traditional staples, “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder,” “In The Sweet By And By,” and “Amazing Grace,” without which any gospel collection would be considered incomplete. Johnny’s early version of songwriter Allen Reynolds’ “My Ship Will Sail,” produced by Jack Clement in October 1974, is one of three previously unreleased tracks on ‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel.’ (Clement and Cash revived the song for his first Mercury album in 1987, ‘Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town.’)

With the Carter Family on backing vocals, Johnny and June sing a duet on songwriter Terry Smith’s “Far Side Banks Of Jordan,” from the 1976 LP, ‘The Last Gunfighter Ballad.’ Columbia turned down the release of his next gospel album in 1979, the Clement-produced ‘A Believer Sings The Truth,’ so Johnny took the record to the indie Cachet Records label. The LP featured “Oh Come, Angel Band” and “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” a nightly show-stopper by that time.The 1980s: The two final (chronological) entries on ‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel’ were recorded at a Nashville session with Clement in February 1981, among whose players were long-time band members Wootton and Holland, plus guests Marty Stuart on guitar and Earl Poole Ball on piano. “How Great Thou Art,” composed by British evangelist Stuart K. Hine and considered the all-time greatest American hymn, was a warhorse for everyone from Mahalia Jackson to Elvis Presley. “It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)” is one of the memorable compositions from radio’s first singing cowboy Stuart Hamblen (who wrote “Let The Sun Shine In,” “This Ole House,” and other hits), and has likewise been recorded by Mahalia, Elvis, Willie Nelson, and countless others.‘Cash – Ultimate Gospel’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.