Press On (CD - 1999)

Personnel: June Carter Cash (vocals, autoharp); Johnny Cash (vocals); Norman Blake (acoustic & electric guitars, dobro); Marty Stuart (acoustic guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Rodney Crowell (acoustic guitar); Hazel Johnson (mandolin); Jason Carter (fiddle); Benmont Tench (piano); Dave Roe (bass); Rick Lonow (drums); Rosie Carter (background vocals).

Includes liner notes by June Carter Cash and Vicky Hamilton.

PRESS ON won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album.

For the first album in years by an artist with as many famous friends as June Carter Cash, there's a distinct absence of pomp and circumstance here. In fact, PRESS ON has a homegrown, spontaneous feel not dissimilar to Johnny Cash's AMERICAN RECORDINGS. Like that album, PRESS ON sounds like it was recorded live in a single sitting (the songs were in fact captured at a makeshift studio in a log cabin at the "Cash Compound"). The record is a raw, all-acoustic affair featuring country/bluegrass legends like Norman Blake, Rodney Crowell and Marty Stuart, as well as various members of the Cash/Carter clan. Many of the songs are June's, and there's a purity to the blend of gospel, bluegrass and country that characterizes the style. When she lends her pipes to a couple of Carter Family classics, it becomes clear that her place in country history has to do with much more than her famous last name(s). minimize