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Cash, Johnny

Important champion of Dylan's cause during his early days at CBS, 
Cash duetted with Dylan on his Nashville Skyline album, part of an 
entire unreleased album of Dylan/Cash. 
Dylan subsequently guested on Cash's TV show in May 1969.

Clinton Heylin:"Bob Dylan: Behind The Shades, a Biography"

"They became friends when they both sang at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1964. When Dylan later [1965] walked on-stage with an electric guitar and swung into rock, the staid festival went up for grabs. Foul, cried the purists, and Dylan was for months afterwards subjected to condemnation. To Cash, who moved easily from country to pop to folk and back again, the criticism seemed silly. It was what Dylan said, not how he said it, that mattered. Cash sat down and dashed off a note to the folk song magazine "Broadside," in which the controversy of Dylan's electrification continued to rage. "Shut up and let him sing!" Cash suggested."

Christopher Wren, Winners Got Scars Too: The Life of Johnny Cash, New York, 1971, p. 161. Rolling Stone Record Guide: Ride This Train is, one suspects, the beginning of the Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan mutual admiration society. Orange Blossom Special includes three Dylan songs- "It Ain't Me Babe", "Don't Think Twice" and "Mama, You Been on My Mind". The problem is that Dylan sings Dylan better than Cash. Collections from this period culminated in the Cash/Dylan duet on Nashville Skyline. Man in Black contains "Singin' in Viet Nam Talkin' Blues", done Bob Dylan style.


Subject: Re: Johnny Cash From: mitch_rath@my-deja.com Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 01:07:53 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Somebody wrote: > Who exactly is Johnny Cash, is he any good, and where should I > start in listening to his work? > Didn't he do a gig in jail once? Once I pick my jaw up off the table, I may as well offer up a serious answer to this one. JR Cash is the only member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, the Country Music Hall Of fame, and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. In the briefest form possible, he is one of rock and roll's pioneers, who, beside bretheren at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis such as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, recorded seminal and original music, which could only be approximated stylistically, to rockabilly. Cash, however, has crossed over so many boundries that a categorical naming of his style is impossible. He has remained, through many personal and professional ups and downs, a continually creative and powerful force in American music to present. Where to start with Cash? That's difficult to anwer. I would suggest delving into the fabulous Sun years mentioned above, and if you are Bobcat as I, perhaps you would enjoy his album, "Blood, Sweat, And Tears", which, for all intents and purposes, is a died in the wool folk album, and is a very potent group of country folk blues. Then move to the prison albums, for some of the finest, most raw, and exhilarating live music ever captured on any recording. The power is as much exuded by Cash as by the energy of the inmate audience in their responses to his music. It is a rare document. Then move on to the stripped down, Rick Rubin produced, American Recordings, for an experience almost akin to listening to World Gone Wrong-a visionary and personal message delivered through a collection of seemingly unconnected tunes. Then there are a few albums in between. I met Johnny Cash when I was 12 in 1971. Not to sound banal, but it did change my life. To me, the most important song of the post war period is the duet between JR Cash and Bob on Nashville Skyline. The two at the top of the pyramid to me. Best all, Mitch Rath
Subject: Re: Johnny Cash From: Mark The Neon Madman Rothfuss mrothfuss@uky.campuscwix.net Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 00:53:33 -0700 At first glance I thought this was a joke. Asking who Johnny Cash is, is like asking who that other guy with those inititals is. Johnny Cash is indeed the man in black, but more so he is just THE MAN! Start anywhere... he is right up there in Bob's club. My favorites are Unchained and American Recordings...both of which brought in some serious hardware via the Grammys. Both are also very easy listening for a Dylan fan. One is solo acoustic the other is balls out Rock N Roll. He's got Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Unchained. And American Recordings sounds strikingly similar to WGW. Dont get me wrong though, all the old Rockabilly stuff kicks ass too! Like Bob he may be an aquired taste, but once you get it there aint no going back! Go out and get some of those albums! You'll thank me one day! Mark

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