12 September 2024

JOHNNY CASH ARTICLES

Since starting this blog back in 2019 I have written many articles on Johnny Cash and with today being 21 years since he left us I am remembering him by playing some of my favourite tracks and also looking back at the articles I wrote.

Photograph: Paul Natkin

I decided to write this latest article to promote the various Johnny Cash articles I have featured on this blog over the past few years. They are listed below with the title, date first published, an image from the article, a short excerpt and the link to the full article.

Enjoy!


JOHNNY CASH - THE MERCURY ALBUMS
First published 26 October 2020

After almost thirty years Columbia/CBS decided that they were not going to renew Johnny Cash's contract. The decision angered many people including Dwight Yoakam who said at the time, "The man's been there thirty fucking years making them money."

Fortunately for him there was a label prepared to sign him and it was Steve Popovich that brought him to Mercury Records. "I really believe in you, " Popovich told Cash during a meeting at The House of Cash. "Our company believes in you. We feel, with the right record that we can help support what you're trying to do here and get some strong records, some hit records." Cash signed with the label in 1986.

Despite releasing strong albums which it has been reported sold little over 200,00 copies in total, it soon became clear that the label were more interested in pandering to the younger artists in their cowboy hats and boots who could be seen everyday on Country Music Television.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2020/10/johnny-cash-mercury-albums.html

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JOHNNY CASH - THE OUTTAKES

First published 2 December 2020

Having already released The Everly Brothers The Outtakes and Janis Martin The Outtakes which, as the titles suggest, contained outtakes and false starts, in early 2007 Bear Family Records turned their attention to Johnny Cash with a three-CD set of outtakes, false starts and studio chat from the Sun Records period. I was fortunate to have been approached to compile the set and write the liner-notes. In this article I will look back at the work that was involved in putting the set together. 

Towards the end of 2006 I was approached by Richard Weize, owner of Bear Family Family, who asked if I would be interested in putting together the set and, of course, I agreed.

My first task was to work out which outtakes had already been issued on the Man In Black 1954-1958 and other releases and compile a spreadsheet detailing where these could be found. I then received nine CDs with various outtakes, false starts and studio chat that also contained some material that had been out before. Unfortunately there were many Sun tracks for which no alternates have survived although what was there made interesting listening.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2020/12/johnny-cash-outtakes.html

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HELLO, I'M JOHNNY CASH

First published 26 January 2021


Sessions for the album began on 17 February 1969 at the Columbia Studios in Nashville with Bob Johnston producing. The first track recorded was the Cash original Southwind which had the distinction of being Bob Wootton’s first session with Cash.

There was a break during which time Cash recorded with Bob Dylan during his own sessions for his Nashville Skyline album,  and performed his famous concert at San Quentin. Recording continued in July and wound up early in September

Musicians and vocalists on the sessions were Bob Wootton (guitar), Carl Perkins (guitar), Marshall Grant (bass), W. S. Holland (drums), Norman Blake (dobro) and The Carter Family (vocals).

The album opens with Southwind which recalls the boom-chicka-boom style he had created back in the fifties at Sun Studios. It captures two of Cash’s favourite themes, trains and heartbreak. It features some blistering guitar by new boy Bob Wootton and great drumming from W. S. Holland and sets the standard for the rest of the album.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2021/01/hello-im-johnny-cash.html

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FORTY SHADES OF GREEN

First published 17 March 2021

The year 1963 started off with the release of the concept album Blood, Sweat And Tears and would find Cash hitting the top spot again with the single Ring Of Fire, his first number one in four years. Cash was also on the road for most of the year including an appearance at the famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It also saw Cash make his first full concert tour in the United Kingdom with most of the dates in Ireland but, as we shall see later, it included two concerts in England.

The tour was promoted by Tom Costello and Bill Fuller and accompanying Cash on tour were The Tennessee Three (Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant and W. S. Holland), June Carter and his manager Saul Holiff.

Other acts on the tour included The Cadets, Savoy Swing Seven, The Victors Showband, Dermot O’Brien Stellas, Johnny Grant, The Mounties Showband and Pete Brown Showband. Most of the support acts were local bands from the places visited during the tour.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2021/03/forty-shades-of-green.html

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REMEMBERING LOU ROBIN

First published 19 May 2021

So sad to hear that Lou Robin has passed away in California a few days before his 91st birthday. For more than thirty years he managed the career of Johnny Cash and continued looking after Cash's legacy following his death in 2003.

Lou was always kind and supportive of my work on the Fanzine, in which I interviewed him, and also my book, for which he wrote the foreword to the first edition and is reproduced below. He was always there to answer my constant email requests and when I gave up the Fanzine a few years ago he wrote a lovely email thanking me for my work.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2021/05/remembering-lou-robin.html

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HURT - THE SONG AND VIDEO

First published 7 July 2021

Throughout 2001-2002 Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin were working on songs for his next album. Like their previous collaborations several cover versions were attempted including Bridge Over Troubled WaterIn My LifeDesperado and Personal Jesus. However the standout track on what would become American IV: The Man Comes Around would be his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt.

Cash’s version became one of the most talked about songs of 2003 and there is no doubt that it stands as one of the greatest cover versions of his entire career. However, it was nearly never recorded.

As had happened with Rusty Cage a few years earlier Cash was unsure about the song. When he first heard it, and especially the tune itself, he told Rubin, “I can’t do that song, it’s not my style.” Rubin suggested trying it a different way and laid down a track which Cash felt would work.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2021/07/hurt-song-and-video.html

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JOHNNY CASH AT THE CAROUSEL BALLROOM

First published 30 October 2021

On 13 January 1968 Cash played his legendary concert before an audience at the infamous Folsom Prison in California. Columbia were also there to record the concert for future album release. 

A few days before the release of the album Cash played a concert at the Carousel Ballroom in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The show was recorded by audio engineer Owsley Stanley and now, more than fifty years later, the concert has been issued through the Owsley Stanley Foundation and Renew Records/BMG.

Before we review the new release we take a look at the life of Owsley Stanley, the history of the Haight-Ashbury scene and the Carousel Ballroom.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2021/10/johnny-cash-at-carousel-ballroom.html

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JOHNNY CASH FANZINE

First published 26 February 2022

Today would have been Johnny Cash's 90th Birthday and to celebrate I thought I would look back at my work on the Johnny Cash Fanzine including some highlights, comments from family and friends when I ceased publication and an interview that I did a few years ago. I am also offering a special offer on the Fanzine.

I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that when I published the first issue of Johnny Cash-The Man in Black in December 1994 that it would run for almost twenty-five years.

Of course, it was down to the subscribers, the Cash family, band members, producers, photographers, management and record companies whose support made it all possible.

The decision to cease publication in 2019 was not an easy one to make and I wish I could have celebrated by reaching one hundred issues but alas it wasn’t to be. Health issues and a decline in membership signalled the end. However, I am proud of what I achieved and hope everybody enjoyed the journey with me.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2022/02/johnny-cash-fanzine.html

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THE FABULOUS JOHNNY CASH

First published 15 November 2022

Johnny Cash's debut album for his new label Columbia was released in November 1958 and to celebrate this we look back at the recording, release and success of the album The Fabulous Johnny Cash.

A week after his last session for Sun Records, Johnny Cash was at the Owen Bradley Studios in Nashville cutting his first sides for his new label, Columbia. This first session produced six songs and a few weeks later on 8 August a further ten tracks were recorded during two sessions on that day. To enable them to have enough tracks for their first album and singles a further session was held five days later with nine more songs successfully recorded.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-fabulous-johnny-cash.html

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THE 'SUMMER CASH' CAMPAIGN

First published 18 January 2023

When Shelby Singleton purchased the Sun Records Label in 1969, he started one of the most intensive reissue campaigns ever. In this article, originally published in The Man in Black (Issue #75 - June 2013), we look at the buyout and the subsequent Johnny Cash releases on the Sun International label between 1969 and 1971, a time when Cash’s Columbia career was at an all-time high.

By the mid-sixties Sun Records had been consigned to the past with Phillips being approached by various record companies prepared to buy the label. One of the most persistent was CBS/Columbia who, with Cash on their label, were keen to get all the Sun masters out of circulation. As far back as 1962 Phillips had considered a deal with Mercury Records whereby Sun would act as a production company for the label.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-summer-cash-campaign.html

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JOHNNY CASH - THE BILLY SHERRILL SESSIONS

First published 17 May 2023

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. 

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2023/05/johnny-cash-billy-sherrill-sessions.html

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REMEMBERING JOHNNY CASH

First published 12 September 2023

The 12th September 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Johnny Cash's death and I wanted to pay tribute to a man and artist whose music meant so much to me and was a major influence in my own career as a writer, journalist and consultant. For twenty-five years I ran the Johnny Cash Fanzine and during that time was fortunate to meet and interview many people associated with his career as well as become friends with many of those who subscribed to the magazine. It is a time I will never forget.

I considered many different articles to remember him and could have written about his early career at Sun Records, his Columbia albums, the prison concerts, his work with Rick Rubin or any number of other aspects of his career. However, I have decided to look back at his final concert here in the United Kingdom and meeting him backstage.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2023/09/remembering-johnny-cash.html

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JOHNNY CASH - THE LIFE IN LYRICS

First published 24 November 2023

Johnny Cash wrote over 600 songs covering everything from love songs to murder ballads, prison songs to those about the working man, American history and the plight of the Indians, humorous songs and gospel. In this new book, Johnny Cash The Life In Lyrics, Cash historian Mark Stielper looks in detail at 125 lyrics written by 'America's Foremost Singing Storyteller'.

Within the 374 pages of this lavishly illustrated, hard-back, coffee table book Johnny Cash's fifty years of song-writing is bought together for the first time. However, it is more than just a book of lyrics as there are stories behind the songs which give the reader an insight into Cash, not only as an artist but also a man who spoke to a nation and the triumphs and challenges he faced in his own life.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2023/11/johnny-cash-life-in-lyrics.html

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JOHNNY CASH - AMERICAN RECORDINGS

First published 26 April 2024

Thirty years ago, on 26 April 1994, Johnny Cash released his album American Recordings, his first on his new label and with a new producer, Rick Rubin. In this latest blog, an expanded and updated article that originally appeared in Issue #40 of Johnny Cash-The Man in Black in September 2004, we look back at how his career took on a new direction, the release of the album and its commercial and critical success.

CBS’s decision to drop Johnny Cash after an unparalleled twenty-eight year partnership angered many people. Dwight Yoakam, an up and coming country star back in 1986 that Cash rated highly, didn’t hold back when he said, “The man’s been there thirty fuckin’ years making them money.” And talking about the Columbia executives offices he raged, “He built the building.”

Even in 1986 Cash still had a loyal following playing sell-out concerts throughout the world and shifting over 40,000 copies of every album but this was not enough to justify a record companies investment and many other country stars would suffer the same fate in the years that followed. 

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2024/04/johnny-cash-american-recordings.html

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JOHNNY CASH - SONGWRITER

First published 2 July 2024


By 1993 Johnny Cash was drifting. When his relationship with Columbia fell apart in the early 1980s he signed with Mercury Records hoping that he would get the support and promotion he felt he deserved.

Unfortunately this was not the case and his deal with them soon turned sour. In 1993, with a career that had been going for almost forty years, his prospects looked bleak. He hadn’t recorded for Mercury for close to three years.

Under the terms of his 1986 contract with Mercury they were still owed one more album from Cash. However, neither party were in any particular rush–Cash in producing it or Mercury in releasing it. They both seemed keen to end the relationship and move on.

Read the full article here...

https://peter-lewry.blogspot.com/2024/07/johnny-cash-songwriter.html

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Hope you enjoy the articles and please support my work and follow me here. You can also add your comments to the various articles. If you have any questions or suggestions you can message me through the Contact Form on the main page of this blog. 

Look out for more Johnny Cash related articles in the future.


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