Birthday Blips: Johnny Cash
PeetieWheatstrawJohnny Cash was born on February 26, 1932. Although so much could be (and has been) written about his life and contributions to music, I want to focus instead on one day of his life, December 4, 1956. On this date, Johnny Cash stopped by Sun Records Recording Studio, reportedly to watch rockabilly legend Carl Perkins record. By chance, two other musicians also decided to drop into the studio that day, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. After talking for a while, the four ended up starting an improvised jam session that covered about forty-five songs. Luckily for music lovers, someone in the recording room recognized the rarity of these great musicians playing together and hit the record button. Although the sound quality of what resulted is not spectacular, each man’s love for their own and each other’s craft comes through in the wide range of song styles they cover and the fun you can hear them having with each tune. The following day, a newspaper carried a piece on the impromptu session entitled “The Million Dollar Quartet”, which is the name this arguably first ever “supergroup” is called today. 
Image by Menage a Moi Unfortunately, none of the recordings can be found at blip.fm, but here is a YouTube video of “Farther Along” featuring Cash lead vocals:
The complete session can be purchased on Amazon.com or iTunes.
Yesterday’s George Harrison Birthday Blip referenced The Traveling Wilburys, the “supergroup” Harrison formed made up of himself, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynn, and Roy Orbison. With these two groups of music legends in mind, my question to the lunchbreak readers is this: what group of musicians, living or dead, would you like to hear perform together?
To listen to some Johnny Cash in honor of his 79th birthday, stop by http://blip.fm/PeetieWheatstraw .
Reader Comments (4)
This is a genre switch here, but I would like to hear Michael Buble perform with some of the ratpack and crooners of old.
Back to country, I heard a great version of "Poncho and Lefty" with Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard the other day. I'd like to hear some of the new country stars perform with the old greats. Maybe throw Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney or Zac Brown in with Cash or Haggard and see if they mesh...
Thanks for the info. I never knew about this supergroup phenomenon..
I like the idea of combining the old with the new and seeing what results. Kind of makes me think of how Johnny Cash himself showed respect for this kind of idea by playing songs by contemporary artists such as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode at the end of his career.
I once saw Eddie Veder and Neil Young on stage. That was the coolest thing I have ever seen live -- Rocking in the Free World. I still dream of the day Led Zep would get back together with Bohnam's kid. I think that would be surreal experience. I think if more musicians would combine and make music, there would be a better appreciation for the art as a whole.
Much like writing in America, music is a solitary art that is formed in isolation. I don't think it has to be. Those great summer concerts with ten bands should happen every Saturday. We should go to music festivals every weekend. We shouldn't just have sports or a few bands, but music supported by whole cities and communities. The idea that these four would just drop in to play because they loved music and respected each other is the opposite of American Idol.
Maybe the lunch break will sponser a music festival each year filling out the Wells Fargo like the Wing Bowl. There is art in your picks and stories -- and I think that makes for some great music.
Juvenile as this pick may be, I'd vote for Guns and Roses and Metallica to finish off the tour that Axl Rose famously walked away from back in '92. These were pretty much the last two hard rock bands whose sounds could be described as epic, and appearing on stage together- Axl, Slash, Hetfield, et al- they would epitomize the term "supergroup."