Additional information
Recorded between 1956 & 1958. Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl. This reissue of Johnny Cash's second Sun album includes alternate takes, and intriguing extras like mixes of "Guess Things Happen That Way" and "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" before additional instrumentation and background vocals were added. Almost all the songs here were massive country music hits when they were originally released as singles and B-sides; to modern ears their stark, primitive production sounds experimental and almost otherworldly. Cash's baritone, though limited in range, conveys deep emotion on songs like the conflicted "I Walk the Line" and the brooding "Home of the Blues," while his rollicking "Big River" conjures images of a bygone, forbidding yet still alluring America.
