Johnny Cash - Ultimate Gospel

Arguably the songs Cash loved the most

One of the primary reasons Johnny Cash left the Sun label in 1958 was that Sam Phillips wouldn’t let him record a gospel album. Producer Don Law wisely gave Cash free rein to explore his sanctified roots over at Columbia.

Five of the songs here are from his first three Columbia albums, the second of which, Hymns By Johnny Cash, was a solely gospel recording. The remaining 19 tracks range from a couple he managed to slip on to a pair of 1957 Sun albums (a moody cover of Jimmy Davis’ I Was There When It Happened and the Cashcomposed Belshazzar) to a pair of previously unreleased numbers from a 1981 Nashville session: the marvellously understated How Great Thou Art and a riveting reading of Stuart Hamblen’s It Is No Secret.

Along the way Cash is joined by The Carter Family on eight selections (a haunting Were You There and the autoharp-enhanced Peace In The Valley are favorites), teams up with Jan Howard on Carl Perkins’ Daddy Sang Bass, The Statler Brothers on He Turned The Water Into Wine and even hands the mic to the Reverend Billy Graham on The Preacher Said Jesus Said. Twenty-four well chosen tracks, spanning four decades, underscore the Man In Black’s gospel roots.

Columbia/Legacy | 88697007392

Reviewed by Gary von Tersch
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