04 June 2011

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Johnny Cash and the Carter Family, Wembley Arena, London, U.K. 1986-03-31


From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    "In the process I found out a little about the place where I was born."
    I took a deep breath and picked out a slow, soft "Wildwood Flower." At the 'I will dance I will sing' part Katy stepped up to the mic and joined me.
    Right then and there an amazing thing happened. In these kids who threw down Jäger by the pint every Friday night, I managed to induce images of the buckwheat cakes and the lonely hollows they went back to every Saturday morning. I had to let them know that I knew, and playing that song created a common ground. They were mountaineers not just in the hoodies and ball caps they wore to football games. That's why they sang "Take Me Home, Country Roads" every week at the top of their lungs. The hall stood frozen, like in an old photograph. It was so quiet Katy could've played unplugged.


Buy the book on Amazon.

Johnny Cash.

He bridged the gap between traditional music and punk before Rick Rubin ever got the big idea to have Johnny cover Soundgarden and NIN.

Consider the following examples:

"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." Johnny Cash, FOLSOM PRISON BLUES versus "Somebody got murdered, his name cannot be found. A small stain on the pavement, they'll scrub it off the ground." The Clash, SOMEBODY GOT MURDERED

"One morning at breakfast, I said to my wife, we been everywhere once and some places twice. As I had another helping of country ham, she said "We ain't never been to Vietnam,and there's a bunch of our boys over there." So we went to the Orient: Saigon." Johnny Cash, SINGIN' IN VIET NAM TALKIN'BLUES versus "Well you'll work harder with a gun in your back. For a bowl of rice a day, slave for soldiers, till you starve, then your head is skewered on a stake." Dead Kennedys, HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA

"Well, I woke up Sunday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,so I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I washed my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day." Johnny Cash, SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN versus "I went downtown to look for a job, I had no training, no experience to speak of. I looked at the holes in my jeans and turned and headed back." Social D, STORY OF MY LIFE

Okay, so this isn't exactly a doctoral dissertation, but I think I've made my case. With a longer attention span I could've done three or four more comparisons. But I don't have to--look at the picture! This is the man who kicked out the lights at the Grand Ole Opry, saying, "The band kicked off a song, and I tried to take the microphone off the stand. In my nervous frenzy, I couldn't get it off. That was enough to make me explode in a fit of anger. I took the mic stand, threw it down, then dragged it along the edge of the stage. There were 52 lights, and I wanted to break all 52, which I did."

Johnny's biggest contribution to punk is the idea that we can all be redeemed. Without redemption, or a shot of redemption, all that anger is for nothing. I think we all want a chance to scream at the top of our lungs, but we can only do this if we know somebody's going to listen, and that they're going to forgive us when we're done.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.com

Johnny Cash and The Carter Family
Wembley Arena, Wembley Country Festival, London, U.K.
1986-03-31

Johnny Cash : Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Bob Wootton : Lead Guitar
Earl 'Pool' Ball : Piano, Vocals
Jim Soley : Guitar
Joe Allen : Bass Guitar, Vocals
W.S. Holland : Drums
Jack Hale Jr: Trumpet, French Horn
Bob Lewin : French Horn

with:

Carter Family:
June Carter : Autoharp, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Anita Carter: Vocals
Helen Carter: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals

guest: John Schneider (Highwayman, Daddy Sang Bass), Carlene Carter (Elbow Room + more??)

June, Anita, Helen (and Carlene?) appear on more tunes (towards the end of the show) than indicated ... songs are shown as "with June" when June is more-or-less duetting, on other tunes she (and her sisters) share backing vocals.

Lineage: FM broadcast(taped, not live)>cassette>SW1000XG>wav>CEP (minor editing only, + normalisation)>CDWAV>CD.

CD#1 :
1. Intro Medley (Johnny Cash Band) (2:40)
2. Ring Of Fire (2:41)
3. Folsom Prison Blues (2:40)
4. Sunday Morning Coming Down (3:37)
5. Any Old Wind That Blows (2:44)
6. These Hands (2:35)
7. Here Comes That Rainbow Again (2:17)
8. Love Is The Way (2:00)
9. The Highwayman (with John Schneider) (2:43)
10. Big River (2:32)
11. I Guess Things Happen That Way (1:30)
12. Band Introductions (0:27)
13. Fairweather Friends (2:38)
14. Piano Solo (Earl 'Pool' Ball) (3:48)
15. One Piece At A Time (4:23)
16. Forty Shades Of Green (2:18)
17. Ghost Riders In The Sky (3:56)
Total Time : [51:07]

CD#2 :
18. If I Were A Carpenter (with June) (2:04)
19. Jackson (with June) (2:22)
Carter Family (June, Helen, Anita):
20. June Carter Introduction (1:28)
21. Wabash Cannonball (June Carter) (1:52)
22. San Antonio Rose (June Carter) (1:04)
23. Elbow Room (Carter Family with Carlene Carter) (3:23)
24. I'll Be All Smiles Tonight (Anita) (3:28)
25. Foggy Mountain Top (Carter Family) (2:38)
26. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Carter Family) (3:52)
27. Wildwood Flower jam (Johnny Cash Band) (0:21)
28. Wreck Of The Old '97 (with June) (2:52)
29. A Thing Called Love (2:21)
30. The Ballad Of Ira Hayes (3:02)
31. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord (3:26)
32. Daddy Sang Bass (with John Schneider) (2:12)
33. Outro (Johnny Cash Band) (0:37)
34. Casey Jones (1:25)
35. Orange Blossom Special (3:35)
36. I Walk The Line (2:07)
Total Time : [49:16]

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