Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitar); The Carter Family, Jan Howard, George Jones (vocals); Jack Routh (acoustic & electric guitars); Brian Ahern (acoustic guitar); Bob Wootton (electric guitar); Jerry Hensley, Jack Clement (guitar); Ricky Skaggs (12-string guitar, banjo, fiddle); Alisa Jones (dulcimer); Bob Johnson (mandocello); Jack Hale, Bob Lewin (trumpet, French horn); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Earl Ball, Charlie Cochran (piano); Marshall Grant (electric bass); W.S. Holland (drums); Mark Morris (percussion).
Recorded in 1979. Originally released on Columbia (36086). Includes liner notes by Jonny Whiteside.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
This is a multi-channel Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players.
Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitar); The Carter Family, Jan Howard, George Jones (vocals); Jack Routh (acoustic & electric guitars); Brian Ahern (acoustic guitar); Bob Wootton (electric guitar); Jerry Hensley, Jack Clement (guitar); Ricky Skaggs (12-string guitar, banjo, fiddle); Alisa Jones (dulcimer); Bob Johnson (mandocello); Jack Hale, Bob Lewin (trumpet, French horn); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Earl Ball, Charlie Cochran (piano); Marshall Grant (electric bass); W.S. Holland (drums); Mark Morris (percussion).
Recorded in 1979. Originally released on Columbia (36086). Includes liner notes by Jonny Whiteside.
Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Jan Howard (vocals, background vocals); Carter Family (vocals); Jerry Hensley (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, banjo); Brian Ahern (guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, 6-string bass, percussion); Jack Routh (guitar, acoustic guitar); Jack Clement (acoustic guitar); Bobby Wooten, Bob Wootton (electric guitar); Ricky Skaggs (12-string guitar, banjo, fiddle); Alisa Jones (hammer dulcimer); Bob Johnson (mandocello); Jack Hale, Bob Lewin (trumpet, French horn); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Earl Ball (piano, tack piano, electric piano); Charles Cochran (piano); Marshall Grant (electric bass); W.S. Holland (drums); Mark Morris (percussion); Helen Carter, June Carter Cash, Anita Carter (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Chris Theis; Donivan Cowart; Brian Ahern.
Liner Note Author: Johnny Whiteside.
Recording information: Enactron Studios (02/14/1979-05/23/1979); Jack Clement Recording Studios (02/14/1979-05/23/1979).
Photographers: Norman Seeff; Urve Kuusik.
Unknown Contributor Role: Norman Seeff.
Arrangers: Jack Hale; Brian Ahern.
Dulcimer? French horn? Mandocello? These are not instruments traditionally associated with the music of Johnny Cash. Yet 1979's SILVER features the Man in Black with these odd bedfellows, and the overall sound is given a softer, mainstream production treatment from Brian Ahern (best known for his work with Emmylou Harris). While fans of Cash's usual rough-hewn aesthetic may take affront at such lush settings, the material here is undeniably solid.
SILVER opens with an impressive interpretation of "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," and follows with Cash originals such as "Lonesome to the Bone," mixed in with excellent versions of "Cocaine Blues" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky." In addition to the 1979 pressing's duet with George Jones ("I'll Say It's True"), the 2002 reissue contains additional songs with Jones on two Cash classics--"I Still Miss Someone" and "I Got Stripes." Throughout the album, Cash's warbly baritone is in top form, and his skills as a world-class yarn-spinner shine. Even dressed in high-gloss production finery, the true grit of Cash's musical personality comes blazing through.
Silver was a below-average Cash outing, due both to the routine material and the mixed attempt to update his sound with more modern production techniques. Brian Ahern, who produced Emmylou Harris, was at the helm of a set that often put a more contemporary sheen on the sound with filters and phase shifters. Plenty of session help was on hand as well, sometimes on trumpet and French horn, and it's usually not a great sign when the list of players on some tracks runs to more than a dozen. The idea was probably to make Cash sound less old-fashioned; the ironic result was to make it sound more dated and flat than most of the rest of his catalog, without comparing to his better recordings in the quality of the content. Still, erratic production can't smother Cash's strengths, and the record's not terrible, just uninspired. Some of the better songs include his reading of Tom T. Hall's "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," a cover of "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" (a song that's hard to ruin) with contributions from Ricky Skaggs, Wayne Jackson, and the Carter Family, and veteran cohort Jack Clement's memorably titled "West Canterbury Subdivision Blues." George Jones adds harmony vocals to "I'll Say It's True," and the 2002 CD reissue on Columbia/Legacy adds two previously unreleased duets with Jones on remakes of the late-'50s Cash recordings "I Still Miss Someone" and "I Got Stripes." ~ Richie Unterberger minimize