The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 [Box] (CD - 1992)

Personnel includes: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitar); June Carter (vocals); Norman Blake (guitar, dobro); Marty Stewart (guitar, mandolin); Jerry Hensley (guitar, banjo); Bob Johnson (guitar, banjo lute); Luther Perkins, Jack Clement, Billy Riley, Johnny Western, Billy Strange, Bob Wooton, Carl Perkins, Dave Edmonds (guitar); Ricky Skaggs (bajo, fiddle); Billy Ray Latham, Joe Babcock (banjo); Maybelle Carter (autoharp); Jo-el Sonnier (harmonica, accordion); Charlie McCoy, Norton Buffalo (harmonica); Jimmy Wilson, Marvin Hughes, Floyd Cramer, Bill Pursell, Earl Pearle Ball (piano); Marshall Grant, Nick Lowe (bass); Buddy Harman, W.S. Holland (drums); The Jordanaires; The Carter Family; Anita Kerr Singers; The Statler Brothers.

Producers include: Sam Phillips, Jack Clement, Don Law, Frank Jones, Bob Johnston.

Compilation producer: Gregg Geller.

Recorded between 1955 & 1983. Includes liner notes by Arthur Levy and Bill Flanagan.

Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini (Sony Music, New York, New York).

There aren't many 20th century American icons who've matched Johnny Cash's status as cultural cornerstone, symbolic of the time and place he lived in. Some of those gathered within that rarified pantheon of the country's personality cults (Elvis, Marilyn, John Wayne, James Dean) defined themselves in one great bang, never again matching their initial explosion, or not straying too far from the formula that set it off. No second acts in their performances. For Cash, redefinition came easy, because he wasn't simply a rockabilly greaser, camp-fire story-teller, honky-tonk cowboy, or wanted man in black--he was all of those things.

This 3-CD set lays out a lion's share of Cash's story. The journey from Sun Records, where he had a hand in rock & roll's creation, through struggles with the dark sides of his spiritual and artistic being, towards redemption and the maturing of the outlaw hero. His tale is expertly compiled and annotated here, with plenty of guest appearances by folks whose names have long been seared into our cultural consciousness. This is as much a document of the American spirit as anything Twain or Dylan wrote--to simply file it under Country Box Set is to give it minimal credit. minimize