Cash: Ultimate Gospel

by Johnny Cash

Overview

Johnny Cash released more than half a dozen gospel albums during his career, beginning with 1959's Hymns by Johnny Cash, and he scattered gospel tunes throughout his other works as well. A deeply religious man, he sang his songs of praise with as much, or perhaps more, conviction as he did his secular material -- even the most skeptical non-believer would have to appreciate the honesty and soul of Cash's gospel recordings. Cash: Ultimate Gospel collects 24 of his best, most drawn from his Columbia catalog with a pair ("I Was There When It Happened" and "Belshazzar") emanating from Cash's early Sun Records period, and two ("Oh Come, Angel Band" and "Children Go Where I Send Thee") originally on the Cachet label. Three tracks on the set are previously unreleased: a moving reading of "How Great Thou Art," that rivals Elvis Presley's, "It Is No Secret What God Can Do," and "My Ship Will Sail." As with all of Cash's music, there is a realism and warmth to his delivery; Cash's spiritual music is saccharine-free and naked in its emotions, non-preachy and devoid of hellfire in its words -- he's out to tell a story, not to convert. Cash: Ultimate Gospel is sequenced in a non-chronological manner, which works to its benefit -- the songs flow together beautifully, so that the transition from a polished '70s track such as "The Preacher Said 'Jesus Said'" to the more minimalist "I Was There When It Happened" (from 1957) isn't jarring in the least. Some of the songs here are traditional and well-known to all ("Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Amazing Grace"), while others have a distinctive Cash stamp on them ("Daddy Sang Bass," the Cash-June Carter Cash duet on the Carter Family's "Far Side Banks of Jordan"). All told, it's as rich and rewarding a collection of Johnny Cash music as any other. ~ Jeff Tamarkin

Product Details

Release Date:	03/06/2007
Label:	Legacy / Columbia/Legacy
UPC:	0886970073929
Rank:	1668

Tracks

1. Here Was a Man
2. The Preacher Said "Jesus Said"
3. I Was There When It Happened
4. Belshazzar
5. That's Enough
6. It Was Jesus
7. The Old Account
8. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
9. The Great Speckled Bird
10. He'll Understand and Say Well Done
11. How Great Thou Art
12. It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)
13. He Turned the Water into Wine
14. Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)
15. Troublesome Waters
16. (There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)
17. When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder
18. In the Sweet By and By
19. My Ship Will Sail
20. Far Side Banks of Jordan
21. Oh, Come Angel Band
22. Amazing Grace
23. Daddy Sang Bass
24. Children Go Where I Send Thee

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Johnny Cash   Primary Artist
Carl Perkins   Guitar (Electric)
Johnny Western   Guitar
June Carter Cash   Vocals
Pete Wade   Guitar
Philip Donnelly   Guitar (Electric)
W.S. Holland   Drums
Rosa Dotson   Vocals (Background)
Morris Palmer   Drums
John Williams   Bass
Ralph Hansell   Vibraphone
21st Century Singers, Nashville   Vocals (Background)
Bill Walker   Orchestra
Bill Harris Quintet   Percussion
Robin Johnson   Vocals (Background)
Anna Grizzard   Vocals (Background)
Frederic Schulman   Vocals (Background)
Beegie Cruzer   Piano
Johnny Whittaker   Vocals (Background)
William A. "Bill" Walker   Piano
Millicent Alexander   Vocals (Background)
James Carter Wilson   Piano
The Carter Family   Vocals (Background)
Bob Johnson   Guitar
Luther Perkins   Vocal Harmony,Guitar (Electric)
Jerry Shook   Guitar
Farrell Morris   Percussion
Bill Pursell   Piano
Joe Allen   Bass
Chuck Cochran   Piano
Jack Routh   Guitar
Jack Hale   Piano,Trumpet
Johnny Christopher   Guitar
Jan Howard   Vocals (Background)
Jerry Hensley   Guitar
Bob Lewin   Trumpet
Mother Maybelle Carter   Autoharp
Ritchie Albright   Drums
Marvin Hughes   Piano
Marty Stuart   Guitar
Norman Blake   Dobro
Bob Wootton   Guitar (Electric)
Earl Poole Ball   Piano
Buddy Harman   Drums
B.J. Baker   Vocals (Background)
Larry McCoy   Piano
Marshall Grant   Bass,Vocal Harmony
Duke Goff   Bass

Technical Credits

Gregg Geller   Compilation Producer
Vic Anesini   Mastering
Johnny Cash   Composer
June Carter Cash   Duet
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
C. Williams   Arranger
Rev. Billy Graham   Text,Performer
Randall Martin   Design
Jim Marshall   Photography
Don Hunstein   Photography
Sylvie Simmons   Liner Notes
Traditional   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   A&R
Bob Johnston   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Jack Routh   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Jack Clement   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Charlie Bragg   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Frank Jones   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Don Law   Producer,Original Recording Producer
John Jackson   Project Director