NEW YORK (Scena Records press release) -
Johnny Cash and June Carter both frequently appeared on the famed Louisiana Hayride radio show, and now their best performances from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium can be heard on two new albums (released
September 23 on Scena/RED), that celebrate the vitality and distinctive talents of the famous couple.
Johnny Cash Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride makes available the earliest live recordings of the Man In Black yet released. The 16-song album features the first two songs "Hey Porter" and "Luther Played the Boogie" -- Cash performed on the Hayride on November 13, 1955 with his band, The Tennessee Two.
The rest of the tunes - including live shots of "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," "Big River" and a chugging "Rock Island Line" come from between 1955 and 1963, long before Cash's famous prison concert recordings. There's also several rare live tracks, including Cash's reading Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Ballad of the Harp Weaver" and a touching rendition of the gospel song "When I've Learned Enough." He dedicates the latter song to Johnny Horton, a Hayride star who had died in an auto accident not long before Cash's appearance. The CD ends with a bonus track of Cash participating in a radio commercial.
As the respected country music historian Paul Kingsbury writes in the liner notes, "Cash may have the single most recognizable voice in American music." These early live recordings prove that Cash's authority and swagger were there from the start, but they also reveal how naturally Cash interacted with his audience, telling jokes, making introductions and participating in good-natured give-and-take with the crowd. Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride is sure to become a fan favorite.
June Carter Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride catches the entertainer and comedian in classic performances from 1960 to 1964. A career entertainer who had been performing since age 10, Carter was 31 years old when she made her first appearance on the Hayride. By then, she was an established star of the Grand Ole Opry as both a solo artist and as a member of the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle.
When she died at age 73 on May 15, 2003, June Carter Cash was best known as Johnny Cash's performing partner and witty, strong-willed wife of 35 years. But these performances show another side, the one that persuaded her future husband to ask her to join his concert tour in the early ?60s. She was a multi-faceted performer who had acted in movies and in such popular TV series as "Gunsmoke" and "The Adventures of Jim Bowie." On these performances, Carter reveals her special talents as a comic and a singer in the medium at which she excelled live entertainment.
The recordings from June 4, 1960, catch Carter's first appearance on the Hayride, and she's backed by famed guitarist Jerry Kennedy, then a young up-and-comer who would soon move to Nashville to become a renowned record producer. There's also a couple of 1961 recordings backed by the Wilburn Brothers, and two from 1962 when she came to the Hayride as part of Johnny Cash's traveling concert show. The CD ends with two 1965 live songs in which she's joined by Cash and the Statler Brothers, who were new on the Cash tour at the time.
The Louisiana Hayride ranked right behind the Grand Ole Opry as one of the most popular live country music radio programs. Broadcast at 50,000 watts by KWKH from Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium, the Hayride drew sold-out crowds of 3,800 to its Saturday broadcasts. The show was a fixture in the homes of countless country fans across the Mid-South and Southwest. Every third Saturday, the Hayride went national over the CBS radio network. It also gave early boosts to many top stars, including Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Johnny Horton and Jim Reeves.
