The Fabulous Johnny Cash | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 3, 1958 | |||
Recorded | July 24–August 13, 1958 | |||
Studio | Bradley Studios (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 28:28 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Don Law | |||
Johnny Cash chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Fabulous Johnny Cash | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
PopMatters | favorable [1] |
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
Classic Rock | favorable [3] |
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.
The album features five tracks written by Cash and backing vocal performances by The Jordanaires (who at this time were also regulars on Elvis Presley's recording sessions for RCA Records). Overall, even though the album is only 29 minutes in length, it is considered one of Cash's most cohesive pieces. This is largely because his sessions with Columbia were completed over a two-month period. That is greatly reduced when compared to the year by year sessions by Sun Records. [4]
The Fabulous Johnny Cash was a successful debut on Columbia for Cash as it sold over half a million copies during its initial release. [5] Although Billboard did not publish a chart for country albums in 1958, the album peaked at #19 on the Billboard Best Selling LP's chart.
The album was reissued in 2002 by Sony Music's Legacy imprint. The re-issue contains six bonus tracks and unedited versions of the songs. Legacy reissued the album on 180 gram vinyl for Record Store Day on November 23, 2012. [6]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
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1. | "Run Softly, Blue River" | John R. Cash | August 8, 1958 | 2:22 |
2. | "Frankie's Man, Johnny" | J. R. Cash | August 8, 1958 | 2:15 |
3. | "That's All Over" | Dick Glasser | August 8, 1958 | 1:52 |
4. | "The Troubadour" | Cindy Walker | August 8, 1958 | 2:15 |
5. | "One More Ride" | Bob Nolan | August 13, 1958 | 1:59 |
6. | "That's Enough" | Dorothy Coates | August 13, 1958 | 2:41 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
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1. | "I Still Miss Someone" |
| August 13, 1958 | 2:34 |
2. | "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" | J. R. Cash | August 13, 1958 | 3:03 |
3. | "I'd Rather Die Young" | August 13, 1958 | 2:29 | |
4. | "Pickin' Time" | J. R. Cash | August 13, 1958 | 1:58 |
5. | "Shepherd of My Heart" | Jenny Lou Carson | August 13, 1958 | 2:10 |
6. | "Suppertime" | Ira Stanphill | July 24, 1958 | 2:50 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
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13. | "Oh, What a Dream" (Take 1) | J. R. Cash | July 24, 1958 | 2:08 |
14. | "Mama's Baby" | J. R. Cash | August 8, 1958 | 2:22 |
15. | "Fool's Hall of Fame" |
| August 8, 1958 | 2:10 |
16. | "I'll Remember You" | J. R. Cash | July 24, 1958 | 2:07 |
17. | "Cold Shoulder" | Helene Hudgins | August 13, 1958 | 1:55 |
18. | "Walking the Blues" |
| August 13, 1958 | 2:12 |
Musicians
Additional personnel
Album - Billboard (United States)
Chart (1958) | Peak position |
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Best Selling LP's | 19 |
Singles - Billboard (United States)
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1959 | "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" | Country Singles | 1 |
1959 | "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" | Pop Singles | 32 |
1959 | "Frankie's Man, Johnny" | Country Singles | 9 |
1959 | "Frankie's Man, Johnny" | Pop Singles | 57 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Date with Elvis is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Victor in July 1959. The album compiled a selection of previously released material from multiple sessions at Sun, an August 1956 recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One and two from Radio Recorders in Hollywood. The album reached #32 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
Elvis is the second studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor on October 19, 1956 in mono. Recording sessions took place on September 1, September 2, and September 3 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, with one track left over from the sessions for Presley's debut album at the RCA Victor recording studios on January 30 in New York. It spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart that year, making Presley the first recording artist to have both albums go straight to number one in the same year. It would go on to spend 5 weeks at #1 in total. It was certified Gold on February 17, 1960, and Platinum on August 10, 2011, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Boom Chicka Boom is the 76th album by American country music singer Johnny Cash, released in 1990 on Mercury Records. The title refers to the sound that Cash's backing band, the Tennessee Three, were said to produce. It includes a cover of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle", and a song written by Elvis Costello for Cash, "Hidden Shame". "Don't Go Near the Water" is a re-recorded version and its original had been recorded for Ragged Old Flag. It discusses the issue of pollution of the environment. In 2003, Mercury released Boom Chicka Boom paired with Johnny Cash is Coming to Town on a single compact disc, though the bonus track "Veteran's Day" was left off. "Farmer's Almanac" and "Cat's in the Cradle" were released as singles, but failed to chart; the album itself, however, reached No. 48 on the country charts. The album has backing vocals by Elvis Presley's old backing group The Jordanaires, and Cash's mother.
Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash is the sixteenth album by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1963. This album collects tracks from singles and an EP released between 1959 and 1963, Cash's first years on the Columbia label, and marked the first release of these tracks in LP format, with the exception of "I Still Miss Someone," which had previously appeared on the 1958 album The Fabulous Johnny Cash. "Ring of Fire", one of Cash's most famous tracks, made its first LP appearance here. Ring of Fire was the first #1 album when Billboard debuted their Country Album Chart on January 11, 1964. Certified Gold on February 11, 1965 by the RIAA, it earned him his first Gold LP. It stands as the only Columbia "greatest hits" collection to be included in the Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection box set.
Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West is a concept double album and the 22nd overall album released by country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1965. Covering twenty individual songs, the album, as its title suggests, contains various ballads and other songs on topics related to the history of the American Old West. This includes Carl Perkins' "The Ballad of Boot Hill", "Streets of Laredo", and the sole single from the album, "Mr. Garfield", describing the shock of the population after the assassination of President James Garfield. One of the songs, "25 Minutes to Go", would later be performed at Folsom Prison and appear on Cash's famous At Folsom Prison recording in 1968, while the melody of "Streets of Laredo" would be recycled for the song "The Walls of a Prison" featured on Cash's album From Sea to Shining Sea.
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.
Silver is the 25th anniversary studio album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1979. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard albums chart. "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" peaked at #2 on the singles chart; the two other singles, "Bull Rider" and "I'll Say It's True", had reached #66 and #42, respectively. Recordings of "Cocaine Blues" had previously appeared on At Folsom Prison and Now, There Was a Song!, under the title "Transfusion Blues" on the latter. The album was produced by Brian Ahern, who controversially introduced digital elements into the songs to the disapproval of some listeners. This is the last album that featured bassist Marshall Grant, longtime Cash collaborator in Tennessee Two. He departed from Cash's band the following year.
Johnny Cash på Österåker is a live album by country singer Johnny Cash released on Columbia Records in 1973, making it his 43rd overall release. The album features Cash's concert at the Österåker Prison in Sweden held on October 3, 1972. Its counterparts in concept are the more notable At Folsom Prison (1968), At San Quentin (1969), and A Concert Behind Prison Walls (1976). Unlike aforementioned, På Österåker does not contain any of Cash's most well-known songs; it does, however, include a version of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee". "Orleans Parish Prison" was released as a single, faring rather poorly on the charts. Cash had previously recorded "I Saw a Man" for his 1959 album, Hymns 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.
For LP Fans Only is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on February 6, 1959 by RCA Victor. It compiled previously released material from an August 1956 recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One, a September 1956 session at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, sessions on January 10 and 11 at the RCA Victor Studios in Nashville, two more at the RCA Victor Studios in New York, and multiple sessions at Sun Studio. The album reached number 19 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
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.
Fun in Acapulco is the seventh soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23 and February 27, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 28, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
Johnny Cash Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous is an album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, originally released on December 1, 1958 by Sun Records. It was the first LP album to include the songs. However, since the album includes previously issued as singles, it has been classified as a compilation album. The album is made up of songs Cash recorded for Sun prior to leaving the label for Columbia Records.
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.
The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a box set by country singer Johnny Cash, released posthumously in 2012 on Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings.
For Loving You is a studio album released by the American country music artists Bill Anderson and Jan Howard in February 1968 on Decca Records. The album was their first collaborative album, setting the trend for a series of studio albums over the next few years. The album's title track, "For Loving You", was the lead single and became a number 1 hit on the Billboard country songs chart.