Sings the Ballads of the True West

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Sings the Ballads of the True West
Studio album by Johnny Cash

Publication
(s)

1965

admission

1959-1965

Label (s) Columbia Records

Genre (s)

Country music , folk

Title (number)

20th

running time

64:50

occupation
  • Johnny Cash, vocals, guitar
  • Bob Johnson, flute, banjo

production

Don Law, Frank Jones

chronology
Orange Blossom Special Sings the Ballads of the True West Everybody Loves a Nut

Sings the Ballads of the True West is the 21st studio album by the American country singer Johnny Cash . It was released as a double album on Columbia Records in 1965 and was produced by Don Law and Frank Jones.

It is a concept album on which Cash deals with the myth of the Wild West .

content

The songs from the album are about the wild west and show the life of the cowboys during this time. In addition to new pieces by himself and by Carl Perkins , Maybelle Carter and Shel Silverstein , Cash also recorded some American traditionals such as Sweet Betsy from Pike , Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie , Sam Hall and Streets of Laredo .

Two of the songs have historical backgrounds: Hardin Wouldn't Run was about the famous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin , who already appeared in a story on Cash's album Ride This Train . The song Mister Garfield is about the assassination attempt on former US President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881.

Later new recordings of individual songs

Six of the songs were later re-recorded by Cash, with the old Traditional I Ride an Old Paint being recorded under the title Slow Rider on Ride This Train five years earlier.

The 25 Minutes to Go written by Silverstein tells of a prisoner who counts down the minutes for his execution. A re-recording of the piece was released on the 1968 album At Folsom Prison , for which Cash had performed in front of an imprisoned audience.

Other songs on this concept album that Cash later re-recorded were:

  • The Road to Kaintuck 1972 for America
  • Mister Garfield 1972 for America
  • Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie 1994 for American Recordings as Oh, Bury Me Not (Introduction: A Cowboy's Prayer)
  • Streets of Laredo 2002 for American IV: The Man Comes Around
  • Sam Hall in 2002 for American IV: The Man Comes Around

Track list

  1. "Hiawatha's Vision" (Cash) - 2:25
  2. "The Road to Kaintuck" (June Carter) - 2:43
  3. "The Shifting Whispering Sands, Part I" (Jack VC Gilbert, Mary Margaret Hadler) - 2:54
  4. "The Ballad of Boot Hill" (Carl Perkins) - 3:48
  5. "I Ride an Old Paint" (Traditional) - 2:58
  6. "Hardin Wouldn't Run" (Cash) - 4:19
  7. "Mr. Garfield" (Ramblin 'Jack Elliott) - 4:35
  8. "Streets of Laredo" (Traditional) - 3:39
  9. "Johnny Reb" (Merle Kilgore) - 2:50
  10. "A Letter from Home" (Maybelle Carter, Dearest Dean) - 2:35
  11. "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (Traditional) - 2:26
  12. "Mean as Hell" (Cash) - 3:07
  13. "Sam Hall" (Tex Ritter) - 3:15
  14. "25 Minutes to Go" (Shel Silverstein) - 3:14
  15. "The Blizzard" ( Harlan Howard ) - 3:53
  16. "Sweet Betsy from Pike" ( Jimmie Driftwood ) - 3:57
  17. "Green Grow the Lilacs" (Traditional) - 2:47
  18. "Stampede" ( Peter La Farge ) - 4:01
  19. "The Shifting Whispering Sands, Part II" (Jack Gilbert, Mary Hadler) - 2:28
  20. "Reflections" (Cash) - 2:58

Bonus tracks from the CD edition

  1. "Rodeo Hand" (Peter La Farge) - 2:27
  2. "Stampede" (Peter La Farge) - 1:07

swell

  • Johnny Cash - The indispensable manual: story and songs compact by Peter Hogan; published by Bosworth Verlag 2008; ISBN 978-3-86543-290-2

Web links