A Believer Sings the Truth

Last updated
A Believer Sings the Truth
JohnnyCashABelieverSingstheTruth.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1979
RecordedJanuary–May 1979
Genre Gospel
Length55:39
Label Cachet / Columbia
Producer Johnny Cash, Jack Routh, Jack Clement
Johnny Cash chronology
Silver
(1979)
A Believer Sings the Truth
(1979)
Rockabilly Blues
(1980)
Singles from A Believer Sings the Truth
  1. "Wings in the Morning"
    Released: December 1979
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

A Believer Sings the Truth is a gospel double album by American country musician Johnny Cash. The tracks for the double-length album were recorded in 1979.

Contents

Cash was under contract to Columbia Records, but the label was doubtful that a double-album of gospel songs was commercially viable. With the label's blessing, Cash was allowed to release it on his own on the Cachet label and as a radio special with added narration.

His efforts paid off, as the album made it into the Country Top 50, peaking at #43.

In 1982, Columbia reissued the album itself, and in 1984 an edited-down version titled I Believe appeared on Arrival Records (see below).

Prior to 2012 the only CD release of tracks from the album occurred with two tracks appearing in the God portion of the 2004 box set Love, God, Murder (a set compiled by Cash soon before his death in 2003), and two more tracks appeared on 2007's Ultimate Gospel. The complete contents of the album (plus a previously unreleased outtake) made their CD debut as Disk 1 of the 2012 release Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul of Truth. It is one of only a handful of Columbia-related albums not to be included in the 2012 box set release Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection .

Track listing

Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wings in the Morning"Johnny Cash2:43
2."Gospel Boogie (A Wonderful Time up There)" Lee Roy Abernathy 2:40
3."Over the Next Hill" (with Anita Carter)Johnny Cash2:36
4."He's Alive" (with June Carter Cash)Don Francisco4:16
5."I've Got Jesus in My Soul" Jo-El Sonnier, Tom Ross2:42
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."When He Comes" (with Rosanne Cash)Johnny Cash3:33
2."I Was There When It Happened" (with Marshall Grant) Jimmie Davis, Fern Jones2:16
3."I'm a Newborn Man" (John Carter Cash)Johnny Cash, June Carter1:42
4."There Are Strange Things Happening Every Day" Sister Rosetta Tharpe 3:34
5."Children Go Where I Send Thee"Traditional2:39
Side Three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."(I'm Just an) Old Chunk of Coal" Billy Joe Shaver 2:14
2."Lay Me Down in Dixie" (with Cindy Cash)Jo-El Sonnier, Judy Ball2:01
3."Don't Take Everybody for Your Friend"Roy Carroll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe2:25
4."You'll Get Yours, I'll Get Mine" (with Rodney Crowell)Johnny Cash2:23
5."Oh Come Angel Band"Johnny Cash2:45
Side Four
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."This Train is Bound for Glory" (with June Carter Cash)Sister Rosetta Tharpe3:31
2."I'm Gonna Try to Be That Way" (with Jan Howard)Johnny Cash2:50
3."What on Earth (Will You Do for Heaven's Sake)"Johnny Cash2:10
4."That's Enough"Dorothy Love Coates2:45
5."The Greatest Cowboy of Them All" (with Jack Routh)Johnny Cash3:54

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

YearChartPosition
December 1979Country Albums43

I Believe

I Believe album cover JohnnyCashIBelieve.jpg
I Believe album cover

In 1984, I Believe was released on the Arrival Records label, featuring ten songs from A Believer Sings the Truth and four outtakes from the same sessions. Like its parent album, I Believe has not been released on CD.

Track listing

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."That's Enough" 
2."Don't Take Anyone to be Your Friend" 
3."Jesus in My Soul" 
4."Newborn Man" 
5."I'll Have a New Life" 
6."This Train" 
7."I Was There When it Happened" 
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."Lay Me Down in Dixie" 
2."Strange Things Happen Every Day" 
3."You'll Get Yours and I'll Get Mine" 
4."Didn't it Rain" 
5."He Touched Me" 
6."Way Worn Traveler" 
7."I'm Gonna Try to be That Way" 

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References

  1. A Believer Sings the Truth
  2. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 116.