Johnny Cash Orange Blossom Special Special Numbered Limited Edition vinyl was just released at Exhibit records. Mastered for this LP by Kevin Gray at Coherent Audio and pressed at QRP.
Config: 200g vinyl / 28 pt. tip-on gatefold jacket
Includes: Orange Blossom Special Replica Box Car Stamped Limited Numbered Edition. Includes new photos of the 1964 recording session
“Johnny Cash transcends country music…he represents what American Music is all about!”
Known throughout the world as one of the major figures of post-Hank Williams country music, Johnny Cash constantly sought to expand his musical horizons and avoid being pigeonholed. Cash was at his most engagingly eclectic on Orange Blossom Special, recorded in 1964. For starters, “The Man In Black” covered three tunes by Bob Dylan, then the most talked-about young singer-songwriter of the dawning folk-rock era. (“It Ain’t Me Babe,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” and “Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind”), The Nashville musical establishment hardly embraced Dylan’s mind-blowing lyrics, but Cash, knowing genius when he heard it, was the first major country star to cover Dylan’s work. By the same token, he also rendered two numbers by A.P. Carter of the legendary Carter Family, who, along with Jimmy Rodgers, created the musical template that’s still the model for “traditional” country, bluegrass, and some forms of folk. And Cash’s unmistakable, tough-hewn baritone rendered the classic fiddle tune that is the title track, as well as “Danny Boy” (with a spoken word intro), the spiritual “Amen” and the traditional story-song “The Long Black Veil.” Cash’s compositions include “The Wall,” one of the prison songs for which he is known, and the protest tune “All Of God’s Children Ain’t Free.” Orange Blossom Special includes liner notes by the artist and never-before seen archive photos from the recording session. Cash is backed by the Tennessee Two, his outstanding guitar/bass tandem of Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant and guest appearances by many notable Nashville aces. And, on Bob Dylan’s, “It Ain’t Me Babe” and Johnny Horton’s “When It’s Springtime In Alaska,” Cash is accompanied on vocals by the now-familiar voice of June Carter.
June Carter - vocals
Luther Perkins - guitar/leader
Norman L. Blake - guitar
Robert L. “Bob” Johnson - guitar
Ray Edenton - guitar
Marshall Grant - bass
W.S. Holland - drums
Floyd Cramer - piano
William Withney Pursell - piano
Homer L. “Boots” Randolph - saxophone
Charles R. “Charlie” McCoy - harmonica
William K. “Bill” McElhiney - trumpet
Karl R. Garvin - trumpet
Producers: Don Law & Frank Jones
Side One:
Orange Blossom Special
The Long Black Veil
It Ain’t Me Babe
The Wall
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
You Wild Colorado
Side Two:
Mama You’ve Been On My Mind
When It’s Springtime In Alaska
(It’s 40 Below)
All of God’s Children Ain’t Free
Danny Boy
Wildwood Flower
Amen