JOHNNY CASH —JOHNNY CASH’S AMERICA (Sony) CD/ DVD

[Maurice Hope]

www.Johnnycashonline.com
Rich in emotive edge, honesty this selection of fare from the late Johnny Cash may for the main part be familiar to his followers but there are a handful of songs seeing daylight for the first time. We are talking about rousing live versions of ‘Children, Go Where I Send Thee’ (featuring Carl Perkins), Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and the previously unreleased studio tracks ‘Come Along And Ride This Train’ —that, marked with typical chicka-boom rhythm chugs alone in an all too familiar fashion. But, that was the great thing about Cash; his changes were rarely if ever ground shaking it was only near the time of his death that his music was subject to any dramatic change.
With his affinity of the Native American Indian, the railroad, rural life and love of gospel music taking up a great deal of the 18 track cd and the DVD revealing a lot of intimate moments and wonderful music the listener /viewer has a feast of fare to savour.
While the DVD speaks of how he went to the Nickajack Caves in 1968 and found religion. Although that did not mean he was to forego drugs, he didn’t since it had such a powerful hold it stuck with him till he died but it wasn’t to stop him making some great and in his later days, powerful music and likewise humanitarian deeds as he tried to figure out the meaning of life.
On and off stage Cash had a certain presence that was nothing less than immense,but for all the attention there was also another side of him. Where he was humble, educated and especially proud of his roots and patriotic through and through. Having being brought up in hard times on a share-cropper farm where luxuries were few apart from fresh, homegrown food served on the table.
Among the most memorable contributions to the DVD are those from his contemporaries Merle Haggard, Steve Earle, John Mellencamp, Vince Gill, Snoop Dogg, Bob Dylan and family members Rosanne Cash, Cindy Cash and John Carter Cash coupled with some wonderful vintage footage, and who could not be impressed with his singing of ‘Five Feet High And Rising’, Ring Of Fire’ and ‘Big River’ that Kris Kristofferson thought more a Dylan than Hank Williams’ song, but it was his ability to write topical material that was arguably his greatest attribute. He was unafraid to speak about something he believed in, whether about the Native American Indian, prisoners or the blue collar fraternity and how America was a home for everyone. People will try and follow in his footsteps and sell more records but there will never be anyone like the man they called The Man in Black.
Maurice Hope