For my 4th installment of 10 Minutes of Music I’ve decided to write about one of my Top 2 favorite artists (Willie Nelson, being the other). I was exposed to Cash’s captivating voice when I was 6 years old. My father was a Deputy Sheriff and had an unmarked car that he patrolled in. Some of the deputies installed 8-track tape players in their car. My father had one in his and loved to play his San Quentin tape when he was driving off-duty. There were plenty of times I’d ride with him. I was fascinated with that red 8-track, the sound of Johnny’s voice and the sound of the prisoners in the background. Thus began a lifelong obsession of Cash’s music. I’ll be writing about 4 of his songs. These are just the 4 I’d pick today, there are about 100-200 of his songs that I love dearly. These however, are certainly in my favorite Top 50 or so. Here goes…
“I’ve been Everywhere” is a fairly famous song that Hank Snow took to #1 in 1962. The first time I heard it though was on “The Johnny Cash Show” sometime in 1970 or 71. He never released a version of it until his Grammy winning 1996 album “Unchained”. This version has everything you’d want in a Cash song along with a guitar ending by none other than Marty Stuart. The whole album is worth a separate writing… Johnny is joined throughout the album by Tom Petty and his band, also by Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood on one track and does a great version of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”. Take a trip with Johnny…
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“Mean Eyed Cat” is a bit of a silly, rockabilly song that Cash wrote and his voice turns it into a great story. He recorded it in 1955 and included it on his 1960 album “Johnny Cash sings Hank Williams”. It reached #30 on the Hot Country chart in 1960. My favorite version, and I believe the only other one, is also from his “Unchained” album. Marty Stuart’s guitar can be heard on this track as well. Check it out…
Next up is thought provoking exposé on the Vietnam war. It’s perhaps best written about by this guy over 9 years ago. I include a link to it, hoping he won’t mind… https://dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/johnny-cash-drive-on/
Give it a listen…
Perhaps saving the best for last, I offer “I Still Miss Someone”, a song co-written by Johnny Cash and his nephew Roy Cash, Jr. He first recorded it in 1958 as the B-side to “Don’t Take You Guns to Town”. My favorite version is from Cash’s album with Willie Nelson called “VH1 StoryTellers”. Willie’s legendary guitar playing richly adds to the loneliness of this song. Johnny’s aged voice on this version is the perfect complement to such a mournful song. Embrace the sadness..
This song has been covered by A LOT of artists… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Still_Miss_Someone . The best I feel would be Johnny’s daughter Roseanne… her rendition absolutely bares wide open her deep deep love for her father and her ever present “missing someone”… I think all his fans still miss him… and are thankful for what he left us. You’ve got over 11 minutes of music here to spend some time with… Drive On.
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