EdSmith's Full Review: Sings Ballads of the True West (Legacy) by Johnny ...
This is my submission to the Manly Write-Off, held in honor of Hawgwyld's and Joubert's third anniversary at Epinions. To check out the other entries in this write off, head over to the write-off site maintained by Char.Mike at http://www.angelfire.com/mb2/mypageontheweb/page9.html. If you want, you can find the direct link to the web site over at Hawgwyld's profile page.
If you don't already know that Johnny Cash is easily the manliest country singer of all time, this album provides ample evidence. The material ranges from Cash originals to traditional songs to songs by Peter LaFarge, Ramblin' Jack Eliot, and Shel Silverstein. Beginning with the recitation of Hiawatha's Vision a monologue of Indian displacement based on Longfellow's poem, the album leads us on a winding path through American history. The Road to Kaintuck, written by June Carter, is a story of the days of Daniel Boone and the Indian wars as the first wagon trains rolled through Kentucky. Johnny Reb, a song of the Civil War usually associated with Johnny Horton, is given a stirring rendition here. There are a number of gunfighter ballads and trail songs you probably remember from elementary school, like I Ride an Old Paint, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, and Sweet Betsy From Pike. Songs that make up the sound track to our collective memory of the American West. Cash recorded this album with the avowed intention of correcting the Hollywood version of the old West. I'm not sure that he entirely succeeded in discarding the romantic sheen of nostalgia that we've come to expect from country singers when they're in their Mom and Apple Pie mode, but he always has a solid foundation beneath the surface.
A number of the songs on this album are introduced with spoken narration, something of a Johnny cash trademark. His gruff baritone manages to capture a mixture of tenderness and weather-hardened morality. It's one of Johnny Cash's unique qualities, that even with his hell raising reputation he could deliver a gospel song like A Letter From Home with sincerity and conviction and never raise any eyebrows in the process. He's also one of the few that ever straddled the line between patriotism and jingoism without once winding up on the wrong side.
Musically this album is Johnny Cash at his mid-60's peak. This is a classic album featuring the Tennessee Three, the Statler Brother and the Carter Family. It's one of the all time classic country albums only recently released on CD.
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