Johnny Cash - Live From Austin, TX

For thirty years now, Austin City Limits (ACL) has been providing the absolute best in roots music - since, of course, before there was such a category - from blues to rock to country and everything inbetween - starting in 1976 with the pilot episode, featuring Willie Nelson. Since then this PBS show has broadcast live performances with artists ranging from the legendary to the obscure, every name in music you can think of, such as Michael Nesmith, John Hartford, Hoyt Axton, K.T. Oslin, Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, John Hiatt, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Buck Owens, and, of course, Johnny Cash - plus countless scores of others from every genre of roots-based Americana (including jazz and alternative rock). Why does ACL manage to get this kind of high-caliber talent, year after year? It's not a large venue - but it is an extremely prestigious one, one which has attracted artists who can command top dollar in stadiums, and more than that, it's a quality venue, providing entertainment free to the wider public (PBS, after all) and spotlighting just a tiny fraction of what each artist is capable of. To this highly visible showcase came Johnny Cash in 1987, to perform sixteen of his greatest hits, some covers, and a few others - fourteen of which appear on this disc - along with, of course, June Carter Cash, the Carters, and brother Tommy Cash (the duet they sing does not appear on the disc, unfortunately).

In 1987, Johnny Cash was teetering between having been a top-selling popular star and becoming a legend - he'd pretty much dropped off the charts by this time, forgotten by "new country" fans who were digging the neo-traditionalists who all freely admitted to having been enormously influenced by Cash. The only real chart hit he had in the late 80's was with The Highwaymen (Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson). But he never stopped touring with his show, and that night in Austin, Cash was absolutely on top of his game. He sounds absolutely magnificent in this recording - it's no wonder he called it one of his finest televised performances. It's patently obvious I'm going to have to get the DVD of the show (which came out last year) and watch it, because, well, wow. I had no idea that Cash had ever covered any John Prine songs (well, duh, who wouldn't want to?), yet here one is - the heartbreaking "Sam Stone." There's also, of course, all the hits - "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down," as well as Guy Clark's "Let Him Roll" and Tom T. Hall's "I'll Go Somewhere and Sing My Songs Again." With every song, he sounds simply fantastic.