Johnny Cash “The Fabulous Johnny Cash”

sfilzen — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 19:27:00 +0000

Johnny Cash “The Fabulous Johnny Cash” 1958. Today’s spin in honor of Johnny Cash, born on this date, February 26th, 1932 (d. 2003). I pilfered Cash’s second LP release from the kiddo’s collection (one he didn’t take to college with him) since I can’t find our Cash catalogue (it’s somewhere but not filed with the other “C’s” and I’m too busy/lazy to look). The Fabulous Johnny Cash was Cash’s first LP on the Columbia label after leaving Sun Records; it went to #19 on the best-selling LP chart in ’58. Country album releases were not specifically tracked by Billboard in ’58 but it probably would have hit #1 if they did. Both singles did chart: “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” hit #1 on the country chart and #32 on the pop charts; “Frankie’s Man, Johnny” went to #9 (country) and #57 (pop). Our copy has that second single listed as “Frankie and Johnny” on the back cover: it’s a traditional American murder ballad with a murky inspirational past. It either refers to the real murder of Allen Britt by his lover Frankie Baker in 1899 or to the murder of Charles Silver by his wife Frances “Frankie” Silver; and a couple of turn-of-the-century songwriters have credit for the “original” song/melody. The song has been redone and repurposed at least 256 times according to Wiki, the most successful by Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley (1966). My top track on this country classic is the rockabilly-bent “One More Ride.”

Joe and me at the Cash Museum, Nashville 2022

at the Johnny Cash museum, Nashville

On Memorial Day weekend in 2022 we spent several days in Nashville and visited the Johnny Cash museum. I didn’t take too many photos (it was packed and folks were getting crabby – zoom in on kiddo’s face LOL) but it was a great visit to learn more about the Man in Black.

Kiddo and Joe in front of the Johnny Cash museum, 2022

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Merle Haggard and the Strangers “Pride In What I Am”

sfilzen — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 18:17:48 +0000

Merle Haggard and the Strangers “Pride In What I Am” 1969. Today, April 6th, would have been Merle Haggard’s 85th birthday (b. 1937, d. on his 79th birthday, 2016). Pride In What I Am was Merle Haggard and the Strangers’ 8th LP; it went to #11 on the country chart and to #189 on the pop chart. Traditional country is not what I listen to, generally, but it’s hard not love Haggard: raw and honest with songs “packed full with hobos, lost loves and rainy nights remembered from his roving years” (from Pride In What I Am liner notes).

The title track, “I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am” (that features the above-mentioned hobos), went to #3 on the Hot Country Singles chart as well as hitting #75 on the Hot 100 and #15 on the Adult Contemporary charts. Other notable tracks are the Haggard-penned bluesy “I Can’t Hold Myself In Line” and the rollicking “I’m Bringing Home Good News.” Haggard and the Strangers perform a couple of non-Haggard originals including a couple by fellow Bakersfield country musician Red Simpson known for his truck-themed songs (Capitol Records originally wanted Haggard to record the trucking tracks but Haggard declined): “Somewhere on Skid Row” and “I Think We’re Livin’ in the Good Old Days.” He also covers Jimmie Rodgers’ “California Blues” aka “Blue Yodel No. 4.”

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Johnny Cash “The Fabulous Johnny Cash”

Merle Haggard and the Strangers “Pride In What I Am”