Various Artists – Johnny’s Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash
Kevin Oliver
Posted On September 1, 2003
In the grand tradition of tribute-album overkill, this is the third collection of Johnny Cash covers to be released in the last year. But where the others concentrated on country and Americana, this one is a blues-themed set.
Artists range from contemporaries of Cash such as Sleepy LaBeef to younger folk, including Corey Harris and Harry Manx, who readily admit in the liner notes that they hadn’t really listened to Cash’s music before being asked to do this album. It makes for uneven quality and a precious handful of truly interesting variations on signature Cash tunes.
Harris and Chris Thomas King take the most extreme liberties, with Harris turning “Redemption” into a credible reggae tune and King rendering “Rock Island Line” in a manner closer to its popularizer, Lead Belly. Other innovative interpretations include a grooving “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” from gospel legend Mavis Staples; Alvin Youngblood Hart’s harrowing version of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (a Kris Kristofferson song Cash recorded); and a funky, harmonica-laced “Train Of Love” by Paul Reddick.
Too many of the artists play it safe. Maria Muldaur, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Garland Jeffreys and Colin Linden (the album’s producer) turn in paint-by-numbers blues readings.
Of the three recent Cash tribute, this one probably comes in third. Its high ratio of ordinary over intriguing reflects contemporary blues, where rote players happy with recreating the standards hopelessly outnumber those who are trying to expand the genre.
