Ride This Train

Last updated
Ride This Train
JohnnyCashRideThisTrain.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 1, 1960
RecordedDecember 14, 1959 – February 16, 1960
Genre
Length32:20
Label Columbia
Producer
Johnny Cash chronology
Now, There Was a Song!
(1960)
Ride This Train
(1960)
Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams
(1960)
Singles from Ride This Train
  1. "Going to Memphis"
    Released: September 19, 1960
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
PopMatters favorable [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg

Ride This Train is the sixth album by American country singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. It was originally released on August 1, 1960 and was re-issued on March 19, 2002, containing four additional bonus tracks.

Contents

It is considered Cash's first concept album. The album is billed as a "travelogue", with Cash providing spoken narration before each song to give context, in several cases playing historical characters, such as John Wesley Hardin, and describing different destinations around the United States visited by train. The songs themselves are not generally railroad-themed.

The success of this LP inspired his first label, Sun, to release the compilation LP All Aboard the Blue Train , which consisted of previously released "train"-inspired songs, including his hit "Folsom Prison Blues".

Ride This Train was included on the Bear Family box set Come Along and Ride This Train .

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Loading Coal" Merle Travis 4:58
2."Slow Rider"Johnny Cash4:12
3."Lumberjack" Leon Payne 3:02
4."Dorraine of Ponchartrain"Cash4:47
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Going to Memphis"Hollie Dew, Alan Lomax; arranged (new words and music) by Johnny Cash4:26
6."When Papa Played the Dobro"Cash2:55
7."Boss Jack" Tex Ritter 3:50
8."Old Doc Brown" Red Foley 4:10
Bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."The Fable of Willie Brown"Cash1:57
10."Second Honeymoon" Autry Inman 1:57
11."Ballad of the Harp Weaver"Thelma Moore, Edna Millay 3:50
12."Smiling Bill McCall"Cash2:06
Total length:42:10

Personnel

The Tennessee Two
Additional musicians
Technical

Related Research Articles

<i>At San Quentin</i> 1969 live album by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash at San Quentin is the 31st overall album and second live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, recorded live at San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969, and released on June 16 of that same year. The concert was filmed by Granada Television, produced and directed by Michael Darlow. The album was the second in Cash's conceptual series of live prison albums that also included At Folsom Prison (1968), På Österåker (1973), and A Concert Behind Prison Walls (1976).

<i>At Folsom Prison</i> 1968 live album by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. After his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in recording a performance at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of producing Cash's material. Cash had recently controlled his drug abuse problems, and was looking to turn his career around after several years of limited commercial success. Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins, and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom State Prison in California on January 13, 1968. The initial release of the album consists of fifteen songs from the first show and two from the second.

<i>You Cant Argue with a Sick Mind</i> 1976 live album by Joe Walsh

You Can't Argue with a Sick Mind is a live solo album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh. The album was released in early 1976 as Walsh's last album for ABC Records. It was recorded live just before Walsh joined the Eagles. Three members of that group appear on the song "Help Me Through the Night".

<i>Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!</i> 1957 studio album by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! is the debut studio album by American singer Johnny Cash, released on October 11, 1957. The album contained four of his hit singles: "I Walk the Line," "Cry! Cry! Cry!," "So Doggone Lonesome," and "Folsom Prison Blues." It was re-issued on July 23, 2002, as an expanded edition, under the label Varèse Vintage, containing five bonus tracks, three being alternate versions of tracks already on the original LP. In 2012, Columbia Records reissued the album with 16 additional non-album Sun Records tracks as part of its 63-disc Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection box set. In 2017, 60 years after the original release, the album was remastered under the title Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! . In 2022, Sun released a remastered edition of the original studio album, with only the original track listing. The songs had been remastered as to simulate being in the studio as the tracks were recorded.

<i>The Fabulous Johnny Cash</i> 1958 studio album by Johnny Cash

The Fabulous Johnny Cash is the second studio album by American country singer Johnny Cash and his first to be released by Columbia Records. The album was released on November 3, 1958, not long after Cash's departure from Sun Records.

<i>Hymns by Johnny Cash</i> 1959 studio album by Johnny Cash

Hymns by Johnny Cash is the third studio album and first gospel album by American singer Johnny Cash. The album was produced in 1958 and released in 1959. An alternate version of the song It was Jesus was an added bonus track after the album was re-issued in 2002. Cash said he left Sun Records because Sam Phillips would not let him record a gospel album. Columbia promised him to release an occasional gospel album; this was a success for him to record. The album was Cash’s first and most popular gospel album, and is an example of traditional hymns set to country gospel music. The album was recorded simultaneously with The Fabulous Johnny Cash.

<i>Songs of Our Soil</i> 1959 studio album by Johnny Cash

Songs of Our Soil is the fourth studio album by American singer Johnny Cash. It was originally released on July 6, 1959, and later re-issued on August 27, 2002 with two additional bonus tracks.

<i>Blood, Sweat and Tears</i> (album) 1963 studio album by Johnny Cash

Blood, Sweat and Tears is the fifteenth album by singer Johnny Cash, released on January 7, 1963. It is a collection of songs about the American working man. This includes "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer" and "Busted", the latter of which would become a single. Both would also be performed by Cash during his famous 1968 concerts at Folsom Prison and be included in the 1999 extended reissue of the album, At Folsom Prison. The album was included on the Bear Family Records box set Come Along and Ride This Train.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Walk the Line</span> 1956 single by Johnny Cash

"I Walk the Line" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Johnny Cash. After three attempts with moderate chart ratings, it became Cash's first #1 hit on the Billboard charts, eventually reaching #17 on the US pop charts.

<i>American IV: The Man Comes Around</i> 2002 studio album by Johnny Cash

American IV: The Man Comes Around is the sixty-seventh and final non-posthumous studio album by Johnny Cash. It was released on November 5, 2002, by American Recordings and Universal Records. It is the fourth in Cash's "American" series of albums, and the last album released during his lifetime, and is considered some of his finest work towards the end of his life. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

<i>Unearthed</i> (Johnny Cash album) 2003 compilation album by Johnny Cash

Unearthed is a box set by American country singer Johnny Cash. It was released by American Recordings on November 25, 2003, two months after Cash's death. The album was compiled by Cash and Rick Rubin, who also produced the set. It was certified Gold on December 2, 2004, by the Recording Industry Association of America.

<i>Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden</i> 2002 live album by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden is a 1969 recording of a Johnny Cash concert at Madison Square Garden. It was released in 2002.

<i>Love, God, Murder</i> 2000 compilation box set by Johnny Cash

Love, God, Murder is a Johnny Cash compilation box set released in 2000. It features three themed CDs of songs Cash chose from his catalog. Love features relationship songs, mostly written for June Carter Cash. God is a collection of Gospel and spiritual songs. Murder features another recurring topic of Cash's career, and perhaps his favorite subject, but one that he encouraged people "not to go out and do". Each album was also released separately on the same day. In 2004 Life, a fourth compilation was released.

<i>Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian</i> 1964 studio album by Johnny Cash

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian is a 1964 concept album, the twentieth album released by singer Johnny Cash on Columbia Records. It is one of several Americana records by Cash. This one focuses on the history of Native Americans in the United States and their problems. Cash believed that his ancestry included Cherokee, which partly inspired his work on this recording. The songs in this album address the harsh and unfair treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America by Europeans in the United States. Two deal with 20th-century issues affecting the Seneca and Pima peoples. It was considered controversial and was rejected by some radio stations and fans.

<i>The Mystery of Life</i> 1991 studio album by Johnny Cash

The Mystery of Life is the 77th album by country singer Johnny Cash, released in 1991, and his last for Mercury Records. The songs featured are culled from both recent sessions and from leftovers from Cash's first Mercury session in 1986 for the album Johnny Cash is Coming to Town.

<i>The Johnny Cash Childrens Album</i> 1975 studio album by Johnny Cash

The Johnny Cash Children's Album is the 49th album by country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1975 featuring recordings made between January 1972 and October 1973. As the title implies, it contains songs written for children. Among others, this includes "Tiger Whitehead", a song later released in an acoustic version on Cash's posthumous Personal File album in 2006. Most of the songs on the album had not been performed by Cash before. "Old Shep" had been performed by Elvis Presley, among others. One track recorded in 1972 was previously released on LP: "I Got a Boy " was first made available on the 1972 album International Superstar. It is a tongue-in-cheek duet between Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, about their son, John Carter Cash.

<i>My Love Affair with Trains</i> 1976 studio album by Merle Haggard and The Strangers

My Love Affair with Trains is the twentieth studio album by American country music singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1976. The LP rose to number 7 on the Billboard country albums chart.

<i>Thats What Friends Are For</i> (Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams album) 1978 studio album by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams

That's What Friends Are For is an album by American singers Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams, released in July 1978 by Columbia Records. The project was a continuation of the pairing of the artists that began on his previous LP, You Light Up My Life, which included "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", the duet that was on its way to number one on three different charts in Billboard magazine as the recording sessions for this album got underway.

<i>Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection</i> 2012 box set by Johnny Cash

The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a box set by country singer Johnny Cash, released posthumously in 2012 on Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings.

<i>Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration</i> 2006 compilation album by Johnny Mathis

Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 19, 2006, by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. It includes selections from four of the first five Christmas albums that he had recorded: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, and The Christmas Album. Two tracks that were recorded with other artists are also included: "O Tannenbaum", which comes from Mannheim Steamroller's 2001 album Christmas Extraordinaire, and a medley duet of "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" with Bette Midler from her 2006 holiday album Cool Yule.

References

  1. Ride This Train at AllMusic
  2. "Johnny Cash: Ride This Train, PopMatters". 15 June 2002.