Chimesfreedom recently reported on an upcoming new Johnny Cash album release called Out Among the Stars. The album features unreleased tracks from recording sessions at Columbia Records in 1981 and 1984. The video for the earlier announcement featured a snipped of one of the songs discovered by Cash’s son John Carter, “She Used to Love Me a Lot.” But now you may hear the song in its entirety.
The song is available for listening below. As Rolling Stone reports, the song sounds like vintage Johnny Cash. I like it. The album Out Among the Stars will hit the shelves and Internet on March 15, 2014.
One interesting point that the articles about the new song do not mention, is that another country icon released a version of “She Used to Love Me a Lot” in the 1980s. David Allan Coe had a hit with the song in 1985. The song — written by Dennis Morgan, Charles Quillen, and Kye Fleming — appeared on Coe’s 1984 album Darlin’, Darlin. Check out his version.
What do you think of “She Used to Love Me a Lot”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Check out this video for the 1977 broadcast of The Johnny Cash Christmas Show. The show features June Carter Cash, the Carter Family, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and “special guest star” Hee-Haw‘s Roy Clark. On the TV special, Cash recounts some of his past Christmases, including recalling his stint in the military and learning to play the guitar.
One of the most touching moments is when Cash, Lewis, and Perkins pay tribute to the fourth member of the Million Dollar Quartet, Elvis Presley. The three men and Roy Orbison play “This Train is Bound for Glory” for Elvis (31:40), who had died in August of that year.
Several of the artists sing non-holiday former hits. Carl Perkins sings “Blue Suede Shoes” (20:35) for example, and Jerry Lee Lewis rocks out on “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” (27:30). Somewhat surprisingly, Roy Orbison sings “Pretty Woman” (24:05) instead of his 1963 holiday hit, “Pretty Paper.” Lewis calms down for “White Christmas” (30:00).
This special is one of four Johnny Cash Christmas specials that CBS broadcast from 1976 to 1979. You may watch the other ones collected on Dangerous Minds. Also, check out our earlier discussion of the connections between the song “This Train,” the past, and the present.
What is your favorite variety show Christmas special? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Johnny Cash‘s estate is releasing Out Among The Stars, an album of never-before-released material that Cash recorded in the early 1980s for Columbia Records. The music comes from a recording session in 1981 and another session in 1984, both produced by Billy Sherrill. Columbia forgot about the recordings after Cash released his final album for the label, Rainbow, in 1985. (See our previous post about Rainbow and the record label dropping Cash.)
In a short promotional video for the upcoming album, Cash’s son, John Carter Cash talked about finding these recordings.
Out Among the Stars will be out among the stores starting March 25, 2014.
What do you think of “new” music being released after an artist has died? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash gathered at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The gathering was not planned, but because of the fast thinking of a recording engineer, it created a unique moment in music history.
How the Gathering Started
On that date, Carl Perkins was in the studio to record a follow-up to his hit “Blue Suede Shoes.” A still-unknown Jerry Lee Lewis, whose “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” would be released in a few weeks, played piano for Perkins.
During the session, Johnny Cash dropped by. And the 21-year old Elvis Presley, who already had left Sun for RCA, stopped by with his girlfriend to say hello. Soon, the singers began jamming together.
Recording engineer Jack Clement had the smarts to run a tape of the session, although the tape would not be heard for decades. But Sam Phillips called a local reporter to take a picture. The local paper used the caption that is still how we remember the session: the “Million Dollar Quartet” (which also later inspired a Broadway musical).
The session includes Elvis playing piano and the group running through a number of songs. Near the end, after Presley got up to leave, Lewis took over the piano and continued playing and singing.
Did Johnny Cash Sing With the Group?
In the recordings, you do not hear Johnny Cash’s voice up front, which has led to some speculation about whether he stayed around to sing with the other three men. In his autobiography, though, Cash explained that he was there the whole time but was furthest from the mike and singing higher than normal to be in key with Presley.
Cash also revealed it was the first time he had heard Jerry Lee Lewis. Cash explained why Elvis left after Lewis took over the piano. “If you’re wondering why Elvis left right after Jerry Lee got started,” he explained, “the answer is simple: nobody, not even Elvis, ever wanted to follow Jerry Lee.”
Available Recordings
The above recording is listed as a “complete” session of the session. There are a number of CD versions, including a 1990 release. Then the songs were reordered for a later 2006 release that also included some additional tracks.
No matter which CD version you hear, I love the recording of the men jamming and laughing together. I periodically listen to the CD of the session the whole way through.
Although we know of the great talent of these four men, it is often easy to forget the joy they found in the music. But that joy radiates through this recording.
What is your favorite part of the Million Dollar Quartet recording? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On October 9, 2013, the state of Arizona executed the 71-year-old Edward H. Schad, Jr. by lethal injection in Florence, Arizona. Schad, the oldest person on the state’s death row, had been convicted of killing a man during a robbery almost 35 years earlier.
The warden asked Schad if he had any last words. And the inmate responded, “Well, after 34 years, I’m free to fly away home. Thank you, warden. Those are my last words.”
The Song That Inspired the Last Words
Reverend Ronald Koplitz, who was Schad’s pastor and who met the prisoner in 1981 while serving as prison chaplain, explained that the last words were a reference to the hymn “I’ll Fly Away.” Rev. Koplitz had become friends with Schad and kept in touch with him after his time as prison chaplain.
Rev. Koplitz gave Schad the song “I’ll Fly Away” a few weeks before the execution. And apparently, Schad felt a connection to the song.
“I’ll Fly Away”
The song that gave some comfort to the prisoner in his final moments before being killed goes back to 1929. In that year, Albert E. Brumley wrote “I’ll Fly Away.” The wonderful hymn, about eternal life and flying away “to that home on God’s celestial shore,” is one of the most popular gospel songs of all time.
There are a number of great versions of “I’ll Fly Away.” The song has appeared in several movies, including in nice a version by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Doc Watson played an instrumental version of “I’ll Fly Away” in his last public performance. And the song appeared in The Waltons.
Here is a great live version by Gillian Welch.
“The Prisoner” Inspired the Song that Inspired a Prisoner
When Schad referenced the song on the death gurney in Arizona, he likely did not know that his invocation of the song inside prison walls sort of brought the hymn home. When Brumley began writing the song while picking cotton, he was inspired by a song called “The Prisoner’s Song.”
Brumley thought about that song regarding a prisoner thinking of leaving his love behind. And he used a brilliant analogy using prison to represent life on earth.
Brumley was inspired by specific lyrics in “The Prisoner’s Song.” The line “Now, if I had the wings of an angel,/Over these prison walls I would fly” led to Brumley’s theme about flying away.
In this video, Johnny Cash sings “The Prisoner’s Song” on a January 20, 1971 episode of his TV show.
During the introduction, Cash refers to the popularity of “The Prisoner’s Song.” Vernon Dalhart initially recorded the song in 1924 as a B-side to his version of “The Wreck of the Old 97.” “The Prisoner’s Song,” which likely was written by Dalhart’s cousin Guy Massey and/or Guy’s brother Robert Massey, became a big hit for Dalhart.
In “I’ll Fly Away,” Brumley also retained the prison theme, using it as representing life on earth: “Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly.” It is not hard to see how Brumley’s wonderful song might bring some comfort to someone like Schad, strapped down on the execution gurney facing certain death. Music soothes both saints and sinners.
What is your favorite version of “I’ll Fly Aawy”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Chimesfreedom recently reported on an upcoming new Johnny Cash album release called Out Among the Stars. The album features unreleased tracks from recording sessions at Columbia Records in 1981 and 1984. The video for the earlier announcement featured a snipped of one of the songs discovered by Cash’s son John Carter, “She Used to Love Me a Lot.” But now you may hear the song in its entirety.
