The Sun version is indeed a classic, but I love what Marty does with the song. He’s just a kid here playing with the veteran, yet brings a renewed energy to the song that is respectful yet modern. No synthesizers required. Just some killer guitar.
Get one of the expanded versions. Whether you get the two disc Legacy set with everything (Which may or may not be more than you want) or just the expanded set from 2000 that nearly doubles the song total of the original, either is a far more enjoyable listening experience. Much better flow, and of course “Sue” is uncensored.
As a side note, Johnny must have had a great friendship with Marty during the late 70's and early 80's. I'm a big Marty fan. When I started getting into him in the early 90's, I got this CD imported from America which took months to arrive.... (pre internet days...) 'Busy Bee Cafe'. I was thrilled to find out Marty and Johnny duet on a great version of 'One More Ride', bluegrass style, and 'Hey Porter'. Here's the back cover to the CD: 'One More Ride'
That might have to be my next thread. A Marty Stuart deep dive would be fascinating, I'm sure. I think I need that album too.
I think he's great. He's been a beacan for Country Music since he was practically born. Funny you say that, because I looked the other day and found we don't have a 'Marty Stuart' thread here yet. It would be good to discuss him, his contributions, his albums, duets, his clothes, his hair, his guitar.... Well.....you get the idea. I'd be interested in it anyway.
Busy Bee Cafe is my favourite Marty album and these two songs were recorded about a month after the Baron sessions. The third track of interest is Get In Line Brother which was recorded around the time of the Adventures of Johnny Cash album a few months later. Unreleased from the April 1981 sessions is a recording of You Beat All I Ever Saw. That one surprises me because it’s a forgotten single from that 1966-1968 period when things were really falling apart for Cash. It’s also a song I’ve never really seen in Cash set lists. It’s also got that very low chorus. So why Marty recorded it with Johnny, I’m not sure. Was it Johnny’s request? Was it a deep cut that Marty loved? He would revisit himself during the 1985 Rainbow sessions.
Not much has been released from the Jan-Feb Cowboy sessions. However, they inevitably ran through some gospel numbers, including How Great Thou Art. This version is quite different than the A Believer Sings the Truth version from two years earlier. This one is driven by Earl Poole Ball’s flowery piano accompanied by Marty’s mandolin. With Marshall gone from the band and the Tennessee Three sound fading away, I can’t help but think that these two are now the heart and soul of Johnny’s large band, The Great Eighties Eight. Even when they play the Sun tunes, Marty stands out and there’s usually a piano solo too.
Another one from those sessions is It Is No Secret (What God Can Do). More piano gospel. 74 views in 6 years on the official Cash YouTube channel!
The one-disc “complete” set is my go-to. Good point about the lack of censoring, too. Although, Johnny would self-bleep himself in concert which is kind of funny!
Getting video unavailable on both of those. Which is strange because I do see both of them coming from the official channel.
Weird! I’ve tried to use the official channel where possible to avoid that. These two are on the Ultimate Gospel compilation. If you’re ever looking for that one, I recommend the Walmart edition that had a extra unreleased track - Sanctified.
Speaking of, it's technically Wednesday here and I have a busy morning, so just in case: The Survivors Live album by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis Released April 1982 Recorded April 23, 1981 Genre Country, rockabilly, rock Length 42:17 Label Columbia Producer Carl Perkins The Survivors is a live album by country/rockabilly musicians Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1982 on Columbia Records. Contents The album was recorded live on stage on April 23, 1981 in Böblingen, near Stuttgart, West Germany, when all three singers, who had been labelmates at Sun Records at the beginning of their careers, were touring Europe. The show had initially been meant to feature only Cash, but Lewis and Perkins joined him onstage on a night when they did not have a concert scheduled themselves. Without rehearsal, the three performed a number of songs they were known for - including Cash's "Get Rhythm" and Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" - as well as slightly more obscure compositions. Perkins, Cash and Lewis had previously collaborated with each other, and with Elvis Presley (who had died in 1977), during the Million Dollar Quartet session, and would later collaborate for the album Class of '55 with Roy Orbison in 1985. For the last song on the album, "I Saw the Light", Cash, Perkins and Lewis were joined by Cash's son John Carter and his daughter Cindy Cash. Track listing Side one No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Get Rhythm" Johnny Cash 3:07 2. "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" Charlie Feathers, Stan Kesler 2:44 3. "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" Traditional 2:59 4. "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine" Gene Autry, Jimmy Long 3:10 5. "Matchbox" Carl Perkins 3:18 6. "I'll Fly Away" Albert E. Brumley 4:02 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" Dave "Curly" Williams, Sunny David 4:04 2. "Rockin' My Life Away" Mack Vickery 2:54 3. "Blue Suede Shoes" Carl Perkins 3:07 4. "Peace in the Valley" Thomas A. Dorsey 4:51 5. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" A.P. Carter 4:36 6. "I Saw the Light" Hank Williams 3:25 The Survivors (album) - Wikipedia Discogs lists the following performers per track: Johnny Cash - Get Rhythm Johnny Cash - Forgot To Remember To Forget Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins - Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins - That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine Carl Perkins - Matchbox Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - I'll Fly Away Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lot-ta Shakin' Goin' On Jerry Lee Lewis - Rockin' My Life Away Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - There Will Be Peace In The Valley For Me Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - Can The Circle Be Unbroken Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - I Saw The Light ~~~~~ This one's just a good rockin' ol' time. Of course when Jerry Lee shows up, the energy goes up another notch. How can he make one low note on a piano sound so distinctive?? Great stuff. I could listen to hours of this. Where's the full concert? I could say more, but why bother? Go listen to this. Yes, right now. Next: Going on an adventure.
Survivors is an excellent live album, and like every other live album to this point is its own unique beast. Knowing this was an album with Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, I was initially biased against it because I was already familiar with the lacklustre Class of 55 album that would come out a few years later. Survivors is the far better album of the two. A few thoughts about this one: It’s our first live document of the Great Eighties Eight, so you can get a sense of what Cash’s band with Marty Stuart and Jerry Hensley and Bob Wooten sounded like on triple guitar attack. The first two tracks are before Carl and Jerry Lee came out and are both Sun numbers, so are a good indication of how they were updating the old stuff These tracks are all taken from the encore so the band was well warmed up having already played 25 songs before this. For a typical set, check out the Live in London VHS that @Ace24 mentioned. It was recorded three days earlier and is often up on YouTube Carl’s songs are exactly what you’d expect. As we’ve covered he had a good ten year run in Cash’s band and the two were like brothers. His sound hadn’t really evolved at all, but he still does his thing really well. Carl and Jerry Lee were touring together at the time and had a night off nearby, so this was an impromptu drop-in When Jerry Lee comes on stage he just dominates. He is a pure force of nature. Some great gospel stuff here that reminds me of the Million Dollar Quartet album. These guys grew up on that material so this is what they jam to. So much fun This wasn’t an album that was going to reignite Cash’s career but it’s a really enjoyable listen. Highly recommended. My longer review: Album Review: Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis – The Survivors
I'm always a fan of live albums that capture unique, one-off moments (as compared to the "just another show on the tour" variety). This album is a cool concept, taking the unique encore stuff with Carl and Jerry Lee and turning that into the album. At this point the first of the actual Million Dollar Quartet recordings had just surfaced and been released, first on bootleg in 1980 and then on Shelby Singleton's Sun label in 1981, so it was the perfect time to tie-in with a new live album. It's really cool that this recording reunites three of the musicians who played on the original MDQ album (WS Holland, who was Carl Perkins' drummer in 1956, is the drummer on the original MDQ session). Of course Cash himself is not on the actual MDQ recordings, though he apparently jammed with the other three before the tape recorder was turned on, so this show gives us a chance to hear how he might have sounded with them in 1956. Overall a fun and entertaining recording, and cool to hear Cash pull out some old songs that were not part of his regular rotation. I have to say I'm not wild about the sound of the "Eighties Eight" band as a whole, though. It's inevitable one might compare to the MDQ recording, and the spare sound on those tracks is far superior to the bloated sound of Cash's band. Just too many guys onstage for this type of music, I think. In fairness, I suppose they sounded better on tracks that they'd rehearsed as opposed to the impromptu performances we're hearing here.
Can’t say I disagree. I read a quote from Marshall earlier this week about how in their first jam session, the Tennessee Two had a weird sound. They then spent the next week trying to get rid of that sound and they couldn’t, which was a good thing because it became their signature sound. I’m ok with Johnny’s sound evolving but he is always at his best when whatever is behind him hangs onto that minimalist air that was there at the beginning. That huge voice needs space around it. I think about a few pivotal moments in their evolving sound: 1955 Tennessee Two. The boom chicka boom. 1959: drums added, with Fluke becoming permanent around 1962-3 Early 60s: acoustic guitar becomes a fixture, starting with Johnny Western Mid-60s: background vocals with Statlers and Carter’s 1967: lead guitar on top of Luther’s sound with Carl Perkins Early 70s: piano with Larry Butler I can think of songs at all of those points that gave Cash space and ones where the arrangement overwhelms. By the time we hit 1980, though, all of the seats have changed except for Wooten and Fluke. With the BoomChickaBoom sound no longer dominating, what happens? The other guys are almost always playing full on: Jack Routh or someone else is strumming an acoustic hard. Compare this to the old days when Johnny wasn’t even playing chords most of the time. Jerry Hensley has rock tendencies so will err on the side of more notes not less Studio pros are on bass and add more busy, melodic parts than Marshall ever did Earl Poole Ball is a big flowery gospel piano player, so will throw in lots of flourishes And then there’s Marty, an amazing player, but being added on top of a very busy band. So he mostly strums along on mandolin. Not little melodic parts, but fast chord strumming that fills even more space. As the 80s continue, we will see more nameless players enter the fold and the music gets busier and busier but at the same time more and more forgettable. That’s why standouts for me are that outtake of Doin’ My Time because it has space and personality, and again this live album because Carl and Jerry Lee shake it up with raw personality.
Cash did, at least, maintain a small section of the show where he would cut the band back to just Wooten, Holland and bass (Henry Strzelecki at this time) to do I Walk the Line and and a couple other songs with minimal accompaniment.
A few rarities were recorded in the latter half of 1981. Cowboy recorded his own version of Ballad of a Teenage Queen with Johnny guesting:
Merle Kilgore released a one-off single of Mister Garfield that included Johnny and Waylon. This is now the third time Johnny has recorded this song.
Can’t find the whole thing on YouTube, but the 1981 Christmas Special was Christmas in Scotland featuring Andy Williams and Carlene Carter. Notable for covering Bob Dylan’s Man Gave Names to the Animals - and this was right in the heart of Bob’s gospel period.
