The 12 September 2023 marks twenty-years since we lost Johnny Cash and over the next few months I will be reprinting a few articles that I originally wrote and published in Johnny Cash-The Man in Black, which I edited and published between 1994 and 2019. In this article, originally published in Issue #84 - December 2015 although edited here with additional text and illustrations, we look back at the career of Billy Sherrill and his work with Johnny Cash.
When
one thinks of Johnny Cash’s producers there are many names that come to mind.
Of course high on the list is Sam Phillips, who founded Sun Records, and gave
Cash his first break. Also at Sun Records was ‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement, whose name
would crop up regularly throughout Cash’s career. While his move to Columbia
Records saw him working with Don Law and Frank Jones and in the late 1960s Bob
Johnston who was behind the legendary prison albums. Into the 1970s and we find
Larry Butler and Charlie Bragg working with Cash while the following decade
would see Brian Ahern and band members Earl Poole Ball and Marty Stuart taking
over the role. Of course any list would not be complete without Rick Rubin who
bought Cash’s music to a whole new audience in the 1990s and 2000s. One name
often overlooked is that of legendary Nashville producer Billy Sherrill and in
this article we look back at his career and his work with Johnny Cash.
Billy
Norris Sherrill was born on 5 November 1936 in Phil Campbell a small town located
in Franklin County, Alabama.
His early life was surrounded by music and he
would often accompany his evangelist father at local revival meetings. He
joined several local R&B and rock bands and in 1960 released a single, Rules Of The Game, on the Mercury label and several years later
released the album, Country
Classics,
on the Epic label.
Sherrill’s first experience as a producer and engineer was
at Sam Phillip’s Nashville studio although it was a hiring by Epic Records in
1963 that was the start of his major role as a producer. Maybe because of his
lack of experience he first worked with artists that other producers had declined
to work with and surprisingly among these were The Staple Singers!
It wasn’t
long though before he started to make an impression with country artists with David
Houston’s #1 hit Almost
Persuaded being
one of his first major successes. Written by Sherrill with Glenn Sutton the
song won two Grammy Awards for Houston - ‘Best Country & Western Recording’
and ‘Best Country & Western Vocal Performance, Male’ both in 1966. Although
they did not walk away with the honour both Sherrill and Sutton were nominated
in the ‘Best Country & Western Song’ category.
Sherrill had great
admiration for Owen Bradley, a producer who had worked with the likes of Patsy
Cline and Loretta Lynn and was instrumental in the creation of the Nashville Sound
through his work at his own studios The Quonset Hut and Bradley’s Barn. It was
Bradley who added strings and backing vocals to country records and Sherrill
took this further with his lush arrangements that some people compared to the work
of legendary rock producer Phil Spector.
Often criticised for his production
the hit records speak for themselves. Jerry Kennedy, another Nashville producer
once said, “His productions were always first class and as the charts
indicated, he had a pretty good idea about what record buyers wanted.”
During
his long career he worked with many artists including Marty Robbins, Joe
Stampley, David Allan Coe, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Charlie
Rich and Tanya Tucker as well as British rocker Elvis Costello. However, it is
his work with Tammy Wynette and George Jones that he will be best remembered.
Sherrill
guided Wynette’s career more than any other artist he worked with. Although she
had already had a minor hit in 1967 with Apartment #9 it was the Billy Sherrill and Glen Sutton composition Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go
Bad that would be the first of a string of hits
produced by Sherrill.
Thirty-nine top ten hits would follow with an incredible
twenty hitting the #1 spot. Among these hits were, I Don’t Want To Play House, Singing My Song, Another Lonely Song, Take Me To Your World, I’ll See Him Through and, who could ever forget her biggest hit, Stand By Your Man.
With his dramatic productions and her emotional
performances it helped create her image of the queen of heartbreak and a woman
who survives all the romantic turmoils in her life.
Sherrill also produced many
of her duets with husband George Jones including We’re Gonna Hold On, Near You and Golden Ring.
Sherrill began producing George Jones’ solo releases
in the early 1970s. Having already notched up many successful hits it was under
the guidance of Sherrill that he recorded some of his best records – We Can Make It, The Grand Tour and a song which Jones had originally had reservations
about recording, He
Stopped Loving Her Today.
In 1985 Sherrill left Columbia to further his career
as an independent producer and would go on to work with many artists including
Shelby Lynne.
Retiring in the early 1990s he could look back on a successful
career that still continues to influence country music today as recognised by his
induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010. Sherrill died in August
2015 but his legacy will live forever.
We will now take a look at his work with
Johnny Cash which began back in 1980.
Cash first worked with Billy Sherrill at Columbia
Studios in Nashville on 5 September 1980 where they worked on two songs, The Baron and I Will Dance With You with a second session on 30 September to overdub
The Baron.
An article appeared in Cashbox (21 March 1981) about the teaming up of Cash and Sherrill and
explained why it had taken them so long to work together - 'There are many interesting aspects to Columbia recording artist Johnny Cash’s latest single, The Baron, the most unique being that it marks the first teaming of Cash and producer Billy Sherrill. Although Sherrill has been producing CBS artists for 17 years, with Cash recording for CBS for 22 years, the two have never joined forces for a record. According to Sherrill, the reason for this had been that he (Sherrill) “hadn’t found the right song for John.” Sherrill added that when he and co-writers Paul Richey and Jerry Taylor completed this song, he knew it would be perfect for Cash. “We went in and quickly recorded it because we felt so strongly about it,” he said. Cash seems to concur. “The Baron is the best song I’ve heard in years,” he said. I respect Billy Sherrill very much as a producer and an album with him is a possibility."'
Released as a single in March 1981 it spent fifteen weeks on
the country charts peaking at #10, his best chart position since Ghost Riders In The Sky two years earlier.
Cash was working with Jack
Clement on tracks for his new album to be titled The Adventures of Johnny
Cash when,
in March 1981, Sherrill approached Cash about recording material to capitalise
on the success of The
Baron.
They
recorded enough material for an album over a few days in March with most of the
material picked by Sherrill although Cash did insist on recording an old folk
song, Hey,
Hey Train,
which was arranged by guitarist Marty Stuart.
Other tracks recorded for the
album included Mobile
Bay, A Ceiling, Four Walls And A Floor, Thanks To You, Chattanooga City Limits Sign, The Reverend Mr Black and The Greatest Love Affair.
The album was released in May and Columbia took
out a full-page ad in the music press which included the tag-line, ‘Nobody Can
Beat Him…. songs and stories as only Johnny Cash can sing them.’
The album
deserved to do better than its high of #24 and 12 week chart run, especially
based on the title tracks success as a single and the video that was produced
to accompany it. Two further singles didn’t fare much better with Mobile Bay only hitting #60 and Chattanooga City Limit Sign
failing to chart.
A number of tracks remain
unreleased from these sessions including Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time, Billy Brown, New Cut Road,Why Am I Thinking Of You and Tennessee although, as we shall see later, a couple of these did finally find a release.
Other than the live album, The Survivors (featuring both Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee
Lewis) which stalled at #21, Cash didn’t place any albums on the country or pop
charts between 1981 and 1985 when the Highwaymen album was released and peaked at #1.
In an attempt to
rejuvinate Cash’s career and see him riding high in the charts again Rick Blackburn,
head of Nashville’s country operation, teamed Cash up with Billy Sherrill once
again in early 1984.
Despite the modest success of their previous work,
Columbia felt that Sherrill had a new song that could turn Cash’s career
around.
Unfortunately the song, Chicken In Black (originally to be titled Brain Transfusion) written by Nashville songwriter Gary Gentry,
was awful and did not achieve the success everybody had hoped for.
Recorded on
12 April 1984 at 1111 Sound Studios in Nashville, Cash was backed by some of
Nashville’s finest – Jerry Carrigan (guitar), Jerry Kennedy (guitar), Billy
Sandford (guitar), Dale Sellers (rhythm guitar), Pete Drake (steel guitar),
Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins (piano), Henry Strzelecki (electric bass), Bobby Wood
(piano) and Cash band-member Marty Stuart (guitar). Unfortunately all of
Nashville’s finest still couldn’t improve the song!
The novelty song told the
story of Cash needing a brain transplant as his old brain had worn out. He goes
to New York where a brain surgeon tells him he is in luck as they have a brain from
a bank robber.
Everything is fine until he appears on the Opry in Nashville and
half way through a song he tells everybody to hold up their hands and give him their
money and valuables! Meanwhile the chicken, who has his old brain, is having a successful
career as a singer and is signed to a ten-year recording contract. Cash is left
to roam the streets of Nashville robbing people.
Although at first Cash was
upbeat about the song, thinking it would repeat the success of his earlier
novelty song, A
Boy Named Sue,
he eventually admitted he hated the song and thought it was, “godawful!” He
even demanded that Columbia recall all unsold copies of the single from record
stores and refused to sing the song in concert.
As if the song was not
embarrassing enough they then filmed a video in which Cash is seen dressed as a
chicken, in bright yellow and blue, looking like a comic book hero. Like the
single, Cash demanded that the video be pulled from TV stations and never
shown.
Family and friends even hated the video with daughter Rosanne saying,
“There was an undercurrent of desperation in it. It was painful.” Long-time
friend, Waylon Jennings, told Cash he looked like a buffoon in the chicken
costume.
Columbia were not happy about Cash’s change of heart feeling that if
he hadn’t made such a fuss about the song and video it could have become a hit.
Bad feelings not only meant the end of the single but also the planned second Cash/Sherrill
album which was shelved.
Instead Cash teamed up with producer Chips Moman, who
had produced Elvis Presley’s legendary Memphis recordings back in 1969, and released
the album Rainbow.
What of the planned album though? Sessions took
place during April, May and June at 1111 Studios with the same band that
appeared on Chicken
In Black.
They
recorded sixteen tracks with only Chicken In Black and it’s b-side, Battle Of Nashville finding a release.
Other tracks recorded during this
period included, Baby
Ride Easy, Out Among The Stars, If I Told You Who It Was, Call Your Mother, After All and Rock And Roll Shoes.
With the issues over Chicken In Black the planned album was scrapped but not before it
was issued a catalogue number and given the title In Living Colour. A record company catalogue advertised the
album at the time and even listed a few of the tracks although no paperwork
seems to exist to confirm or give any further details.
It is also not known if
a cover was designed although as Columbia had issued a catalogue number and
given the album a title the chances are one did exist. It is interesting to
note that after the project was dropped and Cash recorded a new album with
Chips Moman that it ended up being titled Rainbow.
Purely speculation but it is possible the cover shot
and/or design of the Rainbow
album was originally intended for the In Living Colour project. Even the titles have a similar meaning
with references to colours.
Following the sessions in 1981 and 1984 Cash would
never work with Sherrill again and for years the tracks he recorded during the
sessions in 1984 remained in the vaults and, to most people, were totally
unknown.
John L. Smith included details about the sessions in his series of
discographies which gave hope to Cash fans around the world that one day the
material would be located and released.
Fast forward to December 2013 and
Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music Entertainment, who had
given Cash fans some amazing releases over the years, announced the release of
‘A Long Lost Johnny Cash Album.’
Was it possible that the 1984 tracks were finally
going to find a release? Fans around the world didn’t have to wait long to find
out that twelve newly discovered tracks would be released on an album titled Out Among The Stars.
The recordings surfaced in 2012 when John Carter
Cash, along with staff from Legacy, were cataloguing the extensive archive at
the House of Cash. John Carter Cash said at the time, “When my parents passed
away, it became necessary to go through this material. We found these recordings
that were produced by Billy Sherrill in the early 1980s… they were beautiful.”
The
tapes were taken back to the House of Cash where the album was restored with
the help of additional musicians including Marty Stuart, Jerry Douglas, Bryan
Sutton, Laura Cash and Mark Fain. Carlene Carter added harmony vocals to Baby Ride Easy, a track she had recorded as a duet with Dave
Edmunds back in 1980.
Released in March 2014 Out Among the Stars featured ten tracks from the 1984 sessions and two, Tennessee and Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time, from 1981.
Originally a bonus track was only
going to be made available with the digital download although the decision was
made to include it with the CD. The track was an alternate version of She Used To Love Me A Lot produced by Elvis Costello. It had a darker,
moody atmosphere more reminiscent of his ‘American Recordings’ work. The song
was issued as a single and a video was also produced to help promote the song
and the album.
There are still a handful of Billy Sherrill produced tracks from
1984 left in the vaults, some of which would not have been out of place on Out Among The Stars. Hopefully one day we will get to hear tracks
including You
Give Me Music, I Know You Love Me, My Elusive Dreams and a re-recording of I Still Miss Someone.
I am fortunate to have in my collection copies
of most of the tracks from this period in their original undubbed versions and
it is interesting to compare the originals with the Out Among The Stars overdubbed versions.
The
Baron, Chicken In Black and the previously unreleased In Living Colour album were not the only time Cash and Sherrill
worked together.
Soul and R&B singer Ray Charles had appeared on Cash’s TV
show back in 1970 and in 1984 they found themselves working together in the
studio.
Charles was recording tracks for his new album, Friendship, and although it is not known who approached
who, what is known is that on 22 February 1984 Cash and Charles recorded the duet
Crazy Old Soldier, a song composed by Paul Kennerley and Troy
Seals with Billy Sherrill producing. The song was also released as a single and
although the album reached #1 on the country chart the single failed to chart.
Not
documented at the time this was not the only session to feature Cash and
Charles recording together.
Back in 1981 they recorded Why Me Lord which, at the time, was never released.
In 2010
Concord Music Group’s John Burk had the task of going through hundreds of previously
unreleased session tapes for an album of undiscovered masters to be titled Rare Genius.
One of the tracks chosen was Why Me Lord which would eventually close the album. Charles played
piano and provided stellar vocal harmony on a spine-chilling rendition of the
Kris Kristofferson composition.
In the booklet for Rare Genius there is a reproduction of a letter dated
January 1981 from Cash to Charles which shows how much the song meant to Cash
and also how much he respected Ray Charles. It also gave an indication that
plans were made to release the song at the time.
The letter reads, ‘You’ve made
me a very happy man by allowing the release of Why Me Lord. I have prayed for a record like this for 25 years.
The record company is very excited about the record as is producer - Billy
Sherrill. Enclosed is a cheque for $10,000 which is what you asked for. I still
feel like I am getting the better deal - even if the record doesn’t sell. It’s
a great attitude for you to take. I loved working with you. I wish we could get
together when we’ve got more time. Like you, I’ve got songs that need to come
out. It was great talking with you. I love you. Your friend, Johnny Cash’
It is
a shame that the session in 1984 with Ray Charles didn’t lead to more duets or
an album as it could have been a milestone in Cash’s career and helped bring
his name back to the fore.
However, we do have two albums worth of material
Cash recorded with Sherrill and there are still a handful of tracks left in the
vaults.
