Search - Johnny Cash :: Sings the Ballads of the True West

Probably one of the worst Johnny Cash albums ever, but still

A. Christy | 02/23/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Sings the Ballads of the True West is easily the worst Johnny Cash album I have ever heard. His performances are terrible, there are frequent mistakes, and some of the songs are incongruous. That having been said, I sort of like it, if only for the nostalgic value. My favorite number is "Mr. Garfield," which is not a ballad of the True West by any means, but is a fun song with a fun chorus. This album came out of the mid-60s, when our man Johnny was not in the best of states mentally or physically, what with the amphetamines and all. So at least he's got an excuse for releasing this kind of sub-par mess. If you're looking for a well-performed, well-produced, classic Johnny Cash album, this is not it. However, if you are, like me, a die-hard Johnny Cash fan, this is kind of a cool album to have in your collection. It might be worth purchasing simply for the ridiculous cover picture of Johnny sporting a scuzzy cowboy mustache in full Western attire. Still, as much as I appreciate it from a nostalgic and ironic point of view, it is not a good album by any standards, and it is especially not a good album by Johnny Cash standards. It seems in many of the songs as if there was little or no effort put into making them sound musical, and Johnny's voice is harsh and toneless a lot of the time. The bottom line is this: get it if you like Johnny Cash enough to overlook the fact that this is a terrible album. Otherwise, it's not worth your money or your time listening to it."

Johnny Cash's western album

Stephen H. Butts Jr. | Mississippi | 01/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For all Johnny Cash fans the "Ballads of the True West" album is a must have. It was never a top seller that I know of, but for those who like genuine traditional western music, nobody does it better rhan Johnny.

I was unable to purchase or order this album through any of my local music stores and I had a new copy of it in my hands a few days after ordering it from Amazon.

Stephen"

A Man Of The West

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 12/24/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have spent some time, and I believe time well spent, at this site over the pass couple of years talking about things of the West, old and new. You know the stuff of legends like we grew up with as kids, at least my generation, the generation of '68, did, for better or worst. Blame it on Larry McMurtry, his books, and his incessant Old West reviews in "The New York Review Of Books". Some of this stuff is genuine history, things that today's labor militants should know about like the struggles of the Western Federation Of Miners, Big Bill Haywood and the legendary Wobblies (IWW, Industrial Workers Of The World) who led many a strike against the mine, farm, and lumber bosses.



Other things are, and should be treated a little more circumspectly, like the legends of Jesse James and John Wesley Harding, especially those who honor the Northern victory in the American Civil War. There has, in short, been no lack of song and storytelling about the Old West. This is a round-about way of introducing Johnny Cash's valuable little cache of old time Western-oriented material, mainly ballads, including some long needed focus on the struggle s of Native Americans, the odd group out in the West, old and new.



The name Johnny Cash, although well thought of in this space, has mainly been mentioned in connection with his connection to the legendary Carter family (he married Maybelle's daughter, June, for those who are not familiar with that family's genealogy), a family more noted for their contributions to mountain music, eastern mountain music, than the hard western plains described in this album. Nonetheless, Johnny in that deep, authoritative and plaintive voice of his has brought the Old West alive in this recording. I should like to note several stick out items of interest here. First off- the rendition, based on Longfellow, of "Hiawatha's Vision"; an interesting song about the fate of the assassin of President James Garfield in the post-Civil War period, "Mr. Garfield; and, a song of the original old West, Kentucky, in" Road to Kaintuck". Then to finish this compilation up there are songs that truly reflect the struggles of the Old West, "Stampede," "Blizzard," "The Streets Of Laredo," and "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie". Just a nice little slice of Americana, mainly not mentioned in the history books, or by western Chamber of Commerces.



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