Johnny Cash Fans Get Another Helping of ‘Bootleg’ Recordings

A volume of songs recorded by Johnny Cash during his time at Sun Records and his early years at the Columbia label is being released by Columbia/Legacy. Titled 'From Memphis to Hollywood: Bootleg Vol. 2,' the two-CD set concentrates on recordings done from late 1954 through 1969.

The first disc, from the Sun years, has 32 tracks including a 15-minute live radio broadcast from KWEM in Memphis, hosted by Johnny. At the time the singer worked for Home Equipment Company, the show's sponsor, located across the street from the radio station. The date was Saturday, May 21, 1955, in the same month that Cash recorded his first Sun single, "Cry! Cry! Cry!" Among the tunes from the show are 'Belshazzar,' 'Luther's Boogie,' 'One More Ride' and 'Wide Open Ride,' all performed with The Tennessee Two -- guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant.

More familiar offerings on the first CD are 'Big River' and 'Restless Kid.' There are also demo recordings including 'I Walk the Line,' 'Train of Love,' 'Rock and Roll Ruby' and Johnny covering Jimmie Rodger's classic number, 'Brakeman's Blues.'

The CD includes seven outtakes produced by two legendary men, Sam Phillips and Jack Clement. There are the familiear tunes such as 'Big River' and 'Wide Open Road,' but then there is the cover of the Jimmy Rodgers classic 'Brakeman's Blues; and Lead Belly's 'Goodnight Irene,' showcasing Johnny's interest in the folk music movement, which he came to love and support.

The second CD spans Johnny's first 11 years at Columbia. Several versions of songs that weren't released in the U.S. are on this disc, among them 'Five Minutes to Live' and 'The Frozen Logger.' Also on the 25-track CD are 'Girl in Saskatoon,' 'Send a Picture of Mother' and 'You Beat All I Ever Saw.' There are also two unreleased songs, 'Six White Horses' and 'Come Along and Ride This Train.'

During this time Johnny moved his family, which included a young Rosanne Cash, to Los Angeles, where he sought work as a songwriter and an actor in film and television. He was a natural at both with his larger-than-life presence boosting the popularity of the gunfighter ballads and story songs that were popular in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Among those tunes on this CD are 'Johnny Yuma Theme,' 'Restless Kid' and 'Hardin Wouldn't Run.' He also recorded the classic 'Shifting, Whispering Sands' with actor Lorne Greene.

The two discs include 16 tunes that were never issued and 11 each of singles and outtakes which are being released digitally for the first time in the U.S. This collection and the previously-released 'Personal File a/k/a Bootleg Vol. 1' cast Johnny in a different light from the material issued by his labels throughout his career, offering versions with a more intimate feel than the ones with which fans are most familiar. 'Bootleg Vol. 1', released in May 2006, is a two-CD set of 49 songs featuring just Johnny accompanying himself on his guitar and recorded from 1973 to 1982.

These recordings were discovered in a small, vault-like area at the House of Cash in Hendersonville, Tenn., which was once a Cash family museum and also where Johnny kept many of the items he treasured most, including a collection of rare firearms dating back to the 18th century. Other items found in the room were mementos from the life of the man known as the 'Father of Country Music,' Jimmie Rodgers, and memorabilia from Johnny's fans. Among the music found in the room were hundreds of demos from songwriters, album masters, multi-tracks from his ABC-TV show and many of his own recordings that had never been heard and/or released to the general public.