Johnny Cash was the first artist to fuse the sounds of country, gospel and rockabilly with dramatic storytelling. He wrote moving songs of love and loss, and his voice was not only unique in the field of country & western, but in all of popular music. This essential CD features two of Cashs finest albums: Blood, Sweat and Tears (Columbia, 1962) and Now Heres Johnny Cash (Sun, 1961). The former LP is a great concept album, where Cash assumes the voice of the American worker, lending his deep baritone to both traditional and modern folk ballads and blues. The second LP, Now Heres Johnny Cash, is a good overview of the arc Cash traversed at Sun Records. It includes the rawness of his earliest sides, as well as the manicured overdubs with which Sam Phillips tried to crack the pop charts. Both of these sensational albums have been re-mastered and packaged together in this very special collectors edition, which also includes 7 bonus tracks from the same period. Johnny Cash, lead vocals & guitar, plus: Luther Perkins (guitar) Bob Johnson (guitar & banjo) Marshall Grant (bass) Bill Pursell (piano) W.S. Holland (drums) Anita Carter (vocals) Maybelle Carter (autoharp) The Carter Family (background vocals). Recorded in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, 1954-1962 *Bonus tracks 1. The Legend of John Henrys Hammer 2. Tell Him Im Gone 3. Another Man Done Gone 4. Busted 5. Casey Jones 6. Nine Pound Hammer 7. Chain Gang 8. Waiting For a Train 9. Roughneck 10. Sugartime 11. Down the Street To 301 12. Life Goes On 13. Port of Lonely Hearts 14. Cry, Cry, Cry 15. My Treasure 16. Oh, Lonesome Me 17. So Doggone Lonesome 18. Youre the Nearest Thing To Heaven 19. Story of a Broken Heart 20. Hey Porter 21. Home of the Blues 22. (Therell Be) Peace In the Valley (For Me)* 23. Pick a Bale O Cotton* 24. Send a Picture of Mother* 25. You Tell Me* 26. Thanks a Lot* 27. Luther Played the Boogie* 28. Goodbye Little Darling*
