The Bottom Line
Pros
- "Jackson"
- "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man"
- "If I Were A Carpenter"
Cons
- None.
Description
- Sixteen of Johnny and June's best recordings from the 60's and 70's.
- Features songs written by Bob Dylan, John Sebastian, and Rodney Crowell.
- Compilation produced by Gregg Geller.
Guide Review - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - 16 Biggest Hits
A couple of nights ago I watched "Walk the Line" for the first time. As a Cash fan, I realized that it was really less a story of Johnny's life and his show and more the tale of how a pair of soulmates came together through adversity. There's another chronicle of that tale, and that's here in these sixteen songs.June Carter wasn't the greatest singer in a musical family; Johnny often hit a sour note. But when the two of them sang together, it was perfect just because you could hear how much they loved each other in every turn of phrase. I've heard "Jackson" sung by a lot of couples, and any time I hear it by someone else, I realize how mean-spirited the lyrics really are. When Johnny and June sing it, they're still a couple in the midst of that "fever hotter than a pepper sprout."
There's also a couple of songs on here that I hadn't heard before (if there's an artist in country music who has a daunting catalog to try and collect, it's Cash), including their take on the Kristofferson masterpiece, "Help Me Make It Through The Night," and it's already my favorite version of that song. There's also a couple of nice gospel pieces, as well as the familiar top-ten tracks that I grew up on. All in all, it's nice to have these two in your living room for a while. They're just good folks.
