JOHNNY CASH -- THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION Brings Together 59 Albums On 63 CDs, From 1958's The Fabulous Johnny Cash Through 1990's Highwayman 2 With Waylon, Willie And Kristofferson

NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Signed to Columbia Records at age 26 in 1958, the arc of Johnny Cash's career played out at the label over the next three decades, a near lifetime of work in music, film and television now presented on JOHNNY CASH - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION. Containing 61 distinct album packages (single and double CDs, totaling 63 discs overall) housed in a box with a lift-off cover, the deluxe set will be available everywhere October 30(th) through Columbia/ Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

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Released in the year in which Cash would have turned 80 (born February 26, 1932), JOHNNY CASH - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION is a monumental tribute to the original Man In Black. Working with Columbia producers Don Law (1958-67), Frank Jones (1960-67), Bob Johnston (1968-70), Larry Butler (1972-78), Charlie Bragg (1972-77), Brian Ahern, Billy Sherrill, Chips Moman, and others, Cash was always in command of his direction, whether it was country & western, gospel, blues, rockabilly, traditional balladry and folk, or any other style he chose to pursue. The new box set was compiled by multi-Grammy Award®-nominated producer Gregg Geller and multi-Grammy® and W.C. Handy Award-winning producer Steve Berkowitz, who have supervised Legacy's historic Johnny Cash reissue program for over a decade.

Willie Nelson, who took part in April's "We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash" concert in Austin (available on DVD and Blu-ray from Legacy), had this to say about Cash at the event: "I always looked at John as somebody who had been there before me and who was doing it the way he wanted to do it. I always admired and respected him for doing that - he was one of the first rebels, one of the first outlaws (if you want to call him that) that hit Nashville and I was a great fan of his not only for his music but for his attitude."

The box set begins with The Fabulous Johnny Cash, his Columbia debut LP recorded and released in 1958, with his first #1 country single at Columbia, "Don't Take Your Guns To Town." It wraps up in 1990 (though Cash actually left Columbia in 1983) with Highwayman 2, the second Columbia album by the quartet of Johnny, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson, featuring the Top 25 country hit, "Silver Stallion."

In between, a total of 35 album titles are being released for the first time on CD by Columbia/Legacy in the U.S. And the first 19 chronological titles (dating from 1958 to 1967) are being released for the first time in monaural (mono) sound on CD by Columbia/Legacy in the U.S. Each title is packaged as a mini-LP CD with its original artwork, including the five original gatefold albums in Cash's Columbia discography.

THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION takes its place alongside similarly important Columbia career retrospectives by Miles Davis, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, and Billie Holiday. The contents are housed in a box that resembles the lift-off lid design of The Complete Miles Davis Columbia Album Collection box set issued by Columbia/Legacy in 2009

THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION is accompanied by a full-color booklet that includes complete discographic information for every album: songwriters, recording dates and cities, musicians, guest performers, producers, release dates, original catalog numbers, Billboard pop and country chart numbers for albums and single tracks, and more.

The booklet also features liner notes by veteran annotator Rich Kienzle, who references many of the Columbia albums along the way. "When one thinks of Johnny Cash's recordings, one thing is certain," Kienzle writes. "The Columbia years loom larger than any other phase. A star when he arrived in 1958, when he departed he was an American icon."

Complementing the Columbia albums, the producers have assembled two new compilations for this box set:

    --  Johnny Cash With His Hot & Blue Guitar, a 28-song collection of single
        and non-single tracks released during his Sun Records years (1954-58),
        including "Hey Porter," "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk The Line," "Cry!
        Cry! Cry!," "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen," "Big River," and more; actually
        an expanded edition of his 1957 Sun LP, bearing that album's iconic
        cover design; and
    --  The Singles, Plus, a 2-CD, 55-song collection (spanning 1958-85) of
        single sides that did not originally appear on Johnny's Columbia albums,
        'plus' guest performances on other artists' albums, among them Bob
        Dylan, The Carter Family, Mother Maybelle Carter, June Carter Cash, The
        Earl Scruggs Revue, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, and Shel Silverstein.

There are several rarities and Johnny Cash catalog anomalies to be found throughout THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION. Chief among these are three live albums (out of the eight live albums in the box set):

    --  Johnny Cash pa Osteraker, recorded at Osteraker Prison in Sweden in
        1972, released in Europe in 1973, and later added to the U.S. catalog;
    --  Strawberry Cake, recorded at the Palladium in London in 1975, and
        released in 1976, named for the Cash-composed single track that appeared
        on this album; and
    --  Koncert V Praze, recorded at the Sport Hall in Prague in 1978, released
        on the Czech Supraphon label in 1983, now officially joining the U.S.
        catalog.

Among the other rarities in THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION are two original motion picture soundtrack albums, both produced in Nashville in 1970 by Bob Johnston, who also served as Columbia staff producer (at the time) of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Flatt & Scruggs, The Byrds, and others:

    --  I Walk the Line, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Gregory Peck
        as a smalltown Tennessee sheriff, the soundtrack comprised entirely of
        Johnny Cash songs, featuring his final self-penned #1 country single,
        "Flesh and Blood"; and
    --  Little Fauss And Big Halsy, the motorcycle racing movie starring Robert
        Redford, Lauren Hutton and Michael J. Pollard, with a soundtrack mixing
        vocal and instrumental tunes by Cash and Carl Perkins.

"Johnny Cash and Columbia Records were joined at the hip for 28 years," Kienzle writes, "or nearly 60 percent of his 48-year recording career that began in early 1955 when he did his first formal session for Sun Records in Memphis, continuing until just before he died in 2003. Cash staked his claim and established himself at Sun; at Columbia, he defined himself for all time."

THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION follows up other important Cash-themed titles released by Columbia/Legacy on August 7. A new series entitled "The Greatest" was launched with three new 14-song compilations, The Greatest: Country Classics, The Greatest: Gospel Songs, and The Greatest: Duets, plus The Greatest: The Number Ones. The deluxe version of The Greatest: The Number Ones features a CD with every Sun Records and Columbia side to hit #1 Country in Billboard and/or Cashbox from 1956 ("I Walk the Line") to 1984 ("Highwayman"), accompanied by a DVD with live performances of ten of the songs. (This configuration is also available as a standalone CD, without DVD.)

August 7 also marked Legacy's release of We Walk The Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash, a DVD+CD set and separate Blu-ray disc. The packages chronicle the all-star tribute concert of April 20, 2012, held at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. Artists who performed that night and appear in the feature include Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Iron & Wine, Shooter Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Shelby Lynne, Pat Monahan of Train, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, and others.

THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION also follows up the critical and commercial success of The Johnny Cash Bootleg Series, which has presented four historic releases to date. Released in April, the most recent title in the series is The Soul Of Truth: Bootleg Vol. IV, which includes 51 gospel-themed recordings.

Visit:

JohnnyCashOnline.com
Facebook.com/JohnnyCash
JohnnyCash.com (for updates on the upcoming Cash Museum in Nashville, TN and for all things Cash
LegacyRecordings.com

JOHNNY CASH - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy 88697 91047 2)

    #                      Title                                     Rec.    Rel.      Catalog
    ---                    -----                                     ----    ----      -------
    01. *                  The Fabulous Johnny Cash                          1958 1958 CL 1253
    02. *                  Hymns By Johnny Cash                      1958-59      1959 CL 1284
    03. *                  Songs Of Our Soil                                 1959 1959 CL 1339
    04. *                  Now There Was A Song!                             1960 1960 CL 1463
    05. *                  Ride This Train                           1959-60      1960 CL 1464
    06. *                  Hymns From The Heart                              1961 1962 CL 1722
    07. *                  The Sound Of Johnny Cash                  1961-62      1962 CL 1802
    08. *                  Blood, Sweat And Tears                            1962 1962 CL 1930
    09. *                  Ring Of Fire: The Best Of Johnny Cash     1958-63      1963 CL 2053
    10. *                  The Christmas Spirit                      1959-63      1963 CL 2117
    11. *                   Keep On The Sunny Side -The
                            CarterFamily with special guest Johnny
                            Cash                                             1963 1963 CL 2152
    12. *                  I Walk The Line                           1963-64      1964 CL 2190
    13. *                   Bitter Tears: Johnny Cash Sings
                            BalladsOf The American Indian                    1964 1964 CL 2248
    14. *                  Orange Blossom Special                            1964 1965 CL 2309
     15.                    Johnny Cash Sings Ballads Of The True
     *#                     West                                     1959-65      1965 C2L 38
    16. *                  Everybody Loves A Nut                     1965-66      1966 CL 2492
    17. *                  Happiness Is You                          1962-65      1966 CL 2537
    18. *                   Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June
                            Carter                                   1964-67      1967 CL 2728
    19. *                  From Sea To Shining Sea                           1967 1967 CL 2647
    20.                    Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (Live)               1968 1968 CS 9639
    21.                    The Holy Land                                     1968 1968 KCS 9726
    22.                    Johnny Cash At San Quentin (Live)                 1969 1969 CS 9827
    23. #                  Hello, I'm Johnny Cash                            1969 1970 KCS 9943
    24.                    The Johnny Cash Show (Live)                       1970 1970 KC 30100
    25.                    I Walk The Line o.s.                              1970 1970 S 30397
    26.                    Little Fauss And Big Halsy o.s.                   1970 1970 S 30385
    27.                    Man In Black                                      1971 1971 C 30550
    28.                    A Thing Called Love                       1971-72      1972 KC 31332
    29. #                   Johnny Cash: America - A 200-Year Salute
                            In Story And Song                        1970-72      1972 KC 31645
    30. #                  Christmas - The Johnny Cash Family                1972 1972 KC 31754
    31.                    Any Old Wind That Blows                           1972 1973 KC 32091
    32. #                  The Gospel Road (2-CD)                            1972 1973 KG 32253
                           ---------------------
    33.                    Johnny Cash And His Woman                         1973 1973 C 32443
    34.                     Johnny Cash pa Osteraker (Live at
                            Osteraker Prison, Sweden)                        1972 1973 CBS 65308
    35.                    Ragged Old Flag                                   1974 1974 KC 32917
    36.                    The Junkie And The Juicehead Minus Me     1973-74      1974 KC 33086
    37.                    The Johnny Cash Children's Album          1971-73      1975 C 32898
    38.                    Johnny Cash Sings Precious Memories               1974 1975 C 33087
    39.                    John R. Cash                                      1974 1975 KC 33370
    40.                    Look At Them Beans                                1975 1975 KC 33814
    41.                     Strawberry Cake (Live at the Palladium,
                            London, England)                                 1975 1976 KC 34088
    42.                    One Piece At A Time                       1975-76      1976 KC 34193
    43.                    The Last Gunfighter Ballad                1975-76      1977 KC 34314
    44.                    The Rambler                                       1977 1977 KC 34833
    45.                    I Would Like To See You Again             1976-77      1978 KC 35313
    46.                    Gone Girl                                 1977-78      1978 PC 35646
    47.                    Silver                                            1979 1979 JC 36086
    48.                    Rockabilly Blues                          1979-80      1980 JC 36779
    49.                    Classic Christmas                                 1980 1980 JC 36866
    50.                    The Baron                                 1980-81      1981 FC 37179
    51.                     The Survivors: Johnny Cash -Jerry Lee
                            Lewis -Carl Perkins (Live)                       1981 1982 FC 37961
    52.                    The Adventures Of Johnny Cash             1981-82      1982 FC 38094
    53.                    Johnny 99                                         1983 1983 FC 38696
    54.                    Koncert V Praze (In Prague Live)                  1978 1983 Supraphon
    55.                    Rainbow                                   1984-85      1985 FC 39951
    56.                     Highwayman: Waylon Jennings -
                            WillieNelson -Johnny Cash -Kris
                            Kristofferson                            1984-85      1985 FC 40056
    57.                    Heroes                                    1984-85      1986 FC 40347
    58.                     Highwayman 2: Waylon Jennings -Willie
                            Nelson -Johnny Cash -Kris
                            Kristofferson                                    1989 1990 CK 45240
    59.                    At Madison Square Garden (Live)                   1969 2002 CK 86808

    BONUS DISCS:
    ------------
    60.                    Johnny Cash With His Hot & Blue Guitar    1955-58      2012
    61. #                  The Singles, Plus (2-CD)                  1958-84      2012
                           -----------------------
          *    indicates original monaural (mono) recording
          #    indicates gatefold cover package

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

SOURCE: Legacy Recordings

CONTACT: Randy Haecker, Legacy Media Relations, +1-212-833-4101, Randy.Haecker@sonymusic.com, www.legacyrecordings.com

Web Site: http://www.LegacyRecordings.com