Everybody loves Johnny Cash. Hollywood director James Mangold loves Johnny Cash. Rockabilly dudes love Johnny Cash. Elderly Southern women love Johnny Cash. Yes, everybody loves Johnny Cash -- but, most of all, record companies love making holiday scrilla off of this unabashed, universal adoration for the man in black. That's right: just in time for the holidays come two fancy, new reissue treatments of some live Cash performances! Calculated to warm your heart and nestle nicely under the tree next to the Wal-Mart gift certificate given to you by the relatives you only see once a year, the Johnny Cash Christmas Specials and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition will be released October 7 and October 14, respectively.
But what exactly do these two DVDs contain? Why, Christmas Specials alone guarantees you a performance unseen and unscreened for 30 years. This latest DVD collection features the 1978 and 1979 specials, and combined with last year's reissues of Cash's 1976 and 1977 specials, you'll be able to subject your cousins to an entire Christmas marathon of country music gems! You'll see Johnny live in Los Angeles with his friends Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Martin, and wife June Carter Cash in 1978. You'll see him live in Nashville with Andy Kaufman, Tom T. Hall, and Anne Murray in 1979! And you can do so by purchasing any of the yearly Christmas special DVDs alone or as part of a super special box put together by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and Shout! Factory.
Folsom Prison offers even more chances for holiday glee. Released by Columbia/Legacy in boxset form consisting of two CDs and one DVD, you'll get both of Cash's 1968 performances at the slammer. The CDs promise 31 unreleased tracks, including duets with June Carter Cash and hits like "Blue Suede Shoes." The DVD includes concert footage and interviews with prisoners who were at the performance, as well as legends like Merle Haggard and Roseanne Cash. And last but not least, there's the liner notes, put together by Steve Earle, biographer Michael Streissguth, and even Johnny Cash himself, who wrote his portion back in 1999.
