Post by the Scribe on Apr 12, 2020 11:50:11 GMT
The Johnny Cash TV Show
S01E03
06.07.69
Episode Performances:
Guests:
Linda Ronstadt
Roy Orbison
Jerry Reed
Eddie Albert
Charlie Callas
Highlights:
Johnny sings “Rock Island Line”, “Cry, Cry, Cry”, “I Tremble For You”, “Darling Companion” (with June Carter),
“Wanted Man” (written by Johnny and Bob Dylan).
Eddie sings “Green, Green Grass of Home”
Jerry does “This Thing Called Love”, “Blue Moon Over Kentucky”
Linda sings “The Only Man That’ll Walk the Line”, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”
Johnny & Eddie duet with “Detroit City” and “Sloop John B”.
All join in for “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hand.”
The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58 episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970.
Cash opened each show, invariably preceding the first number with his customary “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” greeting, and its regulars included members of his touring troupe, June Carter Cash (his wife) and the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins, and The Tennessee Three, with Australian-born musical director-arranger-conductor Bill Walker. The Statler Brothers performed brief comic interludes. An instrumental version of “Folsom Prison Blues” was used for the opening credits.
Cash had been approached by ABC to host a television show after the major success of his two live prison albums, At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin. The show started with an hour-long tryout offered by ABC as “a summer replacement for their Saturday night variety extravaganza The Hollywood Palace.” While Cash had a large degree of freedom, he “had to accept some compromises by hosting showbiz royalty like Bob Hope, George Gobel, Kirk Douglas, Burl Ives, Peggy Lee and Lorne Greene. They gave the show gravitas that satisfied both advertisers and the network”.
The show was recorded at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, then home of the Grand Ole Opry. The show was conceived by Bill Carruthers, who also served as executive producer and director for the first season. Stan Jacobson was also a producer on the show. Myles Harmon was the program executive for ABC Television. The first show featured Joni Mitchell, Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw, Fannie Flagg as a comic, and Bob Dylan.
The show included a “Country Gold” segment which featured legends rarely or never seen on network TV such as Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. Author Rich Kienzle suggests that as well as providing entertainment, the show operated as a “Country Music 101”.
Cash persisted in the face of ABC “network anxieties” on several occasions. He refused to cut the word “stoned” from Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, he stood by his Christian faith “despite network anxieties”, and persisted in bringing on Pete Seeger whose anti-Vietnam War song on another network had “caused a firestorm”. He premiered his “Man in Black” song on an episode taped at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University campus.
In 1970, Columbia Records released The Johnny Cash Show, a live album, as a tie-in with the TV series, though the record is not considered a soundtrack. The release is unusual as Columbia was affiliated with competing network CBS. Cash’s version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, included on the series, is included on the album and was released as a single, which was a major hit for Cash.
J.R. “Johnny” Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.
While hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Cash died of complications from diabetes at approximately 2:00 a.m. CT on September 12, 2003, aged 71—less than four months after his wife. It was suggested that Johnny’s health worsened due to a broken heart over June’s death. He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Rate Your Music web site credits Johnny Cash with 1516 albums, EP’s, singles, compilations and recorded video appearances.
See: rateyourmusic.com/artist/johnny_cash