Johnny Cash - American Outtakes 1993.

Johnny Cash was approached in 1993 by producer Rick Rubin and offered a contract with Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and heavy metal than for country music.

Under Rick Rubin's supervision, Johnny Cash recorded the album 'American Recordings' in Rick's living room, accompanied only by his guitar.

For years Cash was often at odds with his producers after he had discovered with his first producer, Sam Phillips, that his voice was better suited to a stripped down musical style. Most famously he disagreed with Jack Clement over his sound, Clement having tried to give Cash's songs a "twangy" feel and to add strings and barbershop-quartet-style singers. His successful collaboration with Rick Rubin was in part due to Rubin seeking a minimalist sound for his songs.

A number of out-takes CD bootlegs have circulated, the following comprises a sizable amount of what has surfaced and importantly the 'copy' quality is very good

Source: Soundboard.

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@192kbps

Genre: Country

Set: Rehearsal Session

Session List:

01 For Heaven's Sake
02 I'm A Drifter
03 I Witnessed A Crime (with Billy Gibbons)
04 Banks of The Ohio
05 The Next Time I'm In Town
06 Breaking Bread
07 To Beat The Devil
08 Friends In California
09 The Caretaker
10 The Wonder of You
11 East Virginia Blues
12 Bury Me Now
13 I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I'll Be A Diamond Someday)
14 Go On Blues
15 If I Give My Soul

plus from a separate source in Nero music files.

16. Bad News
17. All Gods Children Ain't Free

Links: Official site HERE.

Comments: These out take recordings are reported to have taken place between the 17th and 20th May 1993. As mentioned above the location was Rick Rubins living room, clearly professional recording equipment was used. The stripped down 'bare' feel of the official album release is also captured here on these wonderful intimate recordings.

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments. 

Buy: - MP3's at Amazon.co.uk Johnny Cash

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - Sessions 1969

This is hardly making it's Internet bootleg debut here, however the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash sessions from 1969, remain elusive for many collectors, and I am happy to do my bit to help.

The often asked question regarding these sessions is, why have they never been officially released ?

The musically historical importance, audio quality, and perhaps the actual performances themselves, make that a reasonable question, however in all honesty forty years on, the 'cats out of the bag' if you get my drift?

The contents of the sessions are detailed in track lists below, if you have just passing interest in either of these two artists, I would suggest that the recordings are well worth a listen.

Source: Taken from an early generation silver CD.

Sound Quality: Very good stereo soundboard, studio and auditorium.

Genre: In all fairness Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash will suffice.

Track List:

BS studios, Nashville, TN, USA - February 17th -18th, 1969.

01 Good Ol' Mountain Dew (Lunsford / Wiseman)
02 I Still Miss Someone (J Cash / Roy Cash)
03 Careless Love (Trad)
04 Matchbox (Carl Perkins)
05 That's Alright Mama (A. Crudup)
06 Big River (J Cash)
07 Girl Of The North Country
08 I Walk The Line (J Cash)
09 You Are My Sunshine (Davis / Mitchell)
10 Ring Of Fire (Carter / Kilgore)
11 Guess Things Happen That Way (Clement)
12 Just A Closer Walk With Thee (Trad)
13 Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas) (J Rodgers)
14 Blue Yodel #2 (J Rodgers)

Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN May 1st, 1969.

15 I Threw It All Away
16 Living The Blues
17 Girl Of The North Country

Nashville Skyline Quadraphonic Mixes.

18 Nashville Skyline Rag
19 I Threw It All Away
20 Peggy Day
21 Country Pie
22 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

Unknown source - not on all bootleg versions.

23 One Too Many Mornings (1)
24 One Too Many Mornings (2)

Links: Official Bob Dylan HERE, official Johnny Cash HERE,

Comments: The very thorough Bobs Boots site had the following to say regarding this material.

'The outtakes are great fidelity studio recordings, but the performances are very loose, first time trys. This is a 'must-have' disc for historical reasons, but it will probably not be one that you will want to play every day'.

That is a reasonable summary, however I played a few tracks again earlier today, and my first thought as I went on to other matters (work as it happens), was I must listen to this all the way through again!

The studio sessions were of course linked to Bob Dylan's work on his ninth 9th proper studio album 'Nashville Skyline'.

Quoting wikipedia verbatim:

When sessions resumed on February 17, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" was the primary focus, and a master take was selected from a total of eleven takes. An instrumental, titled "Nashville Skyline Rag", was also recorded at the beginning of the session, and it was later included on the album.
Sometime during that session, country legend Johnny Cash stopped by to visit. A friend and label-mate of Dylan's as well as an early supporter of his music, Cash had been recording next door with his own band. The two wound up recording a series of duets, covering Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as well as Cash's own "I Still Miss Someone." None of these were deemed usable, but Cash returned the following day to record more duets.
The session on February 18 was devoted exclusively to duet covers with Cash. "One Too Many Mornings" and "I Still Miss Someone" were revisited, and rejected, yet again. "Matchbox", "That's All Right Mama", "Mystery Train", "Big River", "I Walk the Line", and "Guess Things Happen That Way", all made famous by celebrated Sun recordings performed by Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Cash himself, were all attempted on February 18, but none of these were deemed usable. Covers of Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel #1" and "#5", Cash's "Ring of Fire" (written by his wife, June Carter and Merle Kilgore), "You Are My Sunshine", "Mountain Dew", the traditional ballad "Careless Love", the traditional hymn "Just A Closer Walk With Thee", "How High The Water", and "Wanted Man" (a song written by Dylan specifically for Cash) were also attempted, and all were rejected. There was little enthusiasm for any of these tracks, but one duet of Dylan's, "Girl From The North Country" (which originally appeared on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan), was ultimately sequenced as the album's opener.

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments. 

Purchase: MP3's (all Amazon DRM free) - Bob Dylan and of course Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash - Live in Amsterdam 1972

By the early 1970s, Johnny Cash had established his public image as 'The Man in Black'.

He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat.

This outfit stood in contrast to the costumes worn by most of the major country acts in his day, that is rhinestone suit and cowboy boots.

In 1971, Cash wrote the song 'Man in Black' to help explain his dress code, "We're doing mighty fine I do suppose/In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes/But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back/Up front there ought to be a man in black."

He and his band had initially worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits, and he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage.

From the 'Man in Black' era this is Johnny Cash live at The Nieuwe RAI, Amsterdam, Holland, on the 26th February 1972.

Set list is:

1. I Walk the Line intro / A boy Named Sue.
2. Ramblin' Around / Sunday Morning Coming Down.
3. Man in Black.
4. I Still Miss Someone.
5. Five Feet High and Rising.
6. Pickin' Time / Detroit City.
7. I Walk the Line.
8. Jackson.
9. If I were a Carpenter.
10. No Need to Worry.
11. Will the Circle be Unbroken / Daddy Sang Bass.
12. Children Go Where I Send Thee.
13. A Thing Called Love.

Sound quality is very good (FM stereo sourced @ 256kbps).

DOWNLOAD LINK IN COMMENTS BELOW.

Visit his official web site HERE. A few Johnny Cash Cd's in the Beehive Candy store HERE.

Johnny Cash - New York - 1996

This is Johnny Cash live playing at the Irving Plaza,
New York City, on the 07.09.1996.

In 1996, Cash released a sequel to American Recordings (1994), entitled Unchained, and enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which won a Grammy for Best Country Album.

This live performance does justice to the exceptional studio work he produced around that time & thereafter. Sadly in 1997 the on set of serious illnesses, greatly reduced his live appearances.

Set list:

Folsom Prison Blues
Get Rhythm
Sunday Morning Coming
Ghost Riders in the Sky
Oh Bury Me Not
Never Picked Cotton
Rowboat (Beck)
Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)
Southern Accent (T.Petty)
Memories...
Ring of Fire
Walk the Line
I got Jesus in my Soul
Big River
I Still Miss Someone
Orange Blossom Special
Far Side Banks of Jordan

This is a superb recording of the show (stereo soundboard).

REPLACEMENT DOWNLOAD LINK IN COMMENTS BELOW OR CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE (4TH OCTOBER 2009).

For a small selection of Johnny Cash Cd's click HERE.

Visit Johnny Cash Radio HERE.