Music Review

From Memphis To Hollywood: Bootleg Volume 2

Album | Johnny Cash
By Jim Allen

Fascinating time capsule of early rarities.

Following the Personal File collection, which dug deep into the Johnny Cash archives for mid-period rarities, two-disc set From Memphis To Hollywood gathers rare and previously unreleased cuts from The Man In Black's early years. Things kick off with a fascinating time capsule - Cash's first live radio performance, from 1955, when he was still living in Arkansas and working in the home appliance store across the street from the station. Demos and other recordings from Cash's mid-‘50s Sun Records tenure follow, showing the singer to be seemingly incapable of a throwaway performance. The second disc takes us into the ‘60s, following Cash to the major label Columbia, and featuring a number of tunes he wrote for film and television, including not only Western-oriented tracks like "Johnny Yuma Theme," from the show The Rebel, but also "Five Minutes to Live," from the movie of the same name, where Cash himself portrayed a psycho killer. This isn't the place for a Cash novice to begin, but anyone with a passion for the country pioneer's work will find this fascinating stuff. Put this together with Personal File and the Unearthed box set of American Recordings-era outtakes for the trilogy of a Cash obsessive's dreams.

TAGS: 1950s, 1960s, archives, Country, demos, previously unreleased, rarities, rockabilly,

FACTS: Released: February 22, 2011 (Sony Legacy Records)

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