Johnny Cash Live Albums To Hit Retail in 2015-16

Columbia/Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has announced the upcoming release of two essential live albums from Johnny Cash, one from Denmark (1971) and another from Czechoslavakia (1978).

Johnny Cash’s Man In Black: Live in Denmark 1971 will be released as a CD and digital audio release on Friday, December 4, 2015 and is available for pre-order now. Previously commercially available only as a DVD (released in 2006), the audio will also be available in a special 2-LP set, pressed on red and white vinyl (the colors of the flag of Denmark), exclusively at independent record retailers in celebration of Record Store Day Black Friday 2015 (November 27, 2015). Cash was at a career highpoint and in the middle of 1971 when he was asked to star in his own concert special for Danish television. Lensed before a live audience on a Danish TV sound stage, Man In Black: Live in Denmark 1971 showcases his touring companions—the Tennessee Three (his backup band) June Carter Cash, the Carter Family, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers—in addition to his own setlist of hits and duets (track listing below).

Johnny Cash’s historic Koncert v Praze (In Prague-Live) was recorded on-stage in Czechoslovakia on April 11, 1978, documenting the first time any music artist performing behind the Iron Curtain. This will be available worldwide as a stand-alone CD on Friday, February 5, 2016.

The taping was recorded at the Sportovní hala in Prague, where Cash was invited to perform by the Czechoslovakian government, who acted as agents, promoters and managers for the four shows. Johnny Cash and his entourage of 19 secured work permits and set off from Berlin in a small “school bus,” provided by the Czech government, to test how audiences inside the Soviet bloc would respond to American music. The result, according to the United States ambassador, did more for U.S.-Czech relations in four concerts (playing to a total of 40,000) than he could have accomplished in four years. Those historic performances (which sold out in two days) helped provide a turning point in the thawing of the Cold War. Koncert v Praze (In Prague-Live) was first released on vinyl in Czechoslovakia in 1983, pressed on the local classical label Supraphon then issued in the U.S. as part of the deluxe box set Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection in 2012. While a limited edition 12″ LP edition was pressed on 180 gram red translucent vinyl for Record Store Day 2015, Koncert v Praze (In Prague-Live) is being released worldwide for the first time as a stand-alone CD featuring backing from the Tennessee Three and the Carter Family on 11 songs (track listing below).

Johnny Cash Man in Black: Live in Denmark 1971 Track Listing:
“A Boy Named Sue”
“Sunday Morning Coming Down”
“I Walk the Line”
“Blue Suede Shoes” – Carl Perkins
“Matchbox” – Carl Perkins
“Me and Bobby McGee”
“Guess Things Happen That Way”
“Bed of Roses” – The Statler Brothers
“Flowers on the Wall” – The Statler Brothers
“Folsom Prison Blues”
“Darlin’ Companion” – with June Carter Cash
“If I Were a Carpenter” – with June Carter Cash
“Help Me Make It Through the Night “– with June Carter Cash
“Man in Black”
Introduction to The Carter Family
“A Song to Mama” – The Carter Family
“No Need to Worry” – with The Carter Family & The Statler Brothers
“Rock of Ages” – with The Carter Family & The Statler Brothers
“Children, Go Where I Send Thee” – with  Carl Perkins, The Carter Family & The Statler Brothers

Johnny Cash Koncert v Praze (In Prague-Live) Track Listing:
“Ring Of Fire”
“Folsom Prison Blues”
“I Still Miss Someone”
“Big River”
Cowboy Medley: “I Ride an Old Paint” / “Streets Of Laredo”
“Sunday Morning Coming Down”
“I Walk the Line”
“Last Date”
“City of New Orleans”
Railroad Medley: “Hey Porter” / “Wreck Of the Old ’97” / “Casey Jones” / “Orange Blossom Special”
“Wabash Cannonball”