Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash

1	Train of Love / Paul Reddick 4:21
2	Get Rhythm / Benjy Davis 3:06
3	Walking the Blues / Maria Muldaur 4:44
4	Rock Island Line / Chris Thomas King 2:40
5	I Walk the Line / Garland Jeffreys 3:11
6	Folsom Prison Blues / Blackie & the Rodeo Kings 4:36
7	Long Black Veil / Harry Manx 4:41
8	Sunday Morning Coming Down / Alvin Youngblood Hart 4:34
9	Frankie's Man Johnny / Sleepy LaBeef 2:27
10	Redemption / Corey Harris 3:53
11	Send a Picture of Mother / Kevin Breit 4:18
12	Big River / Colin Linden 3:23
13	Will the Circle Be Unbroken / Mavis Staples 2:56

Barnes & Noble

Johnny Cash is as country as country gets, but look just below the surface and you can find plenty of blues influence in his music. So a tribute to the Man in Black that calls on blues artists and blues arrangements of Cash songs is hardly far-fetched. And, considering the caliber of the participating artists, the album’s success isn’t surprising, either. Among the diverse highlights are roughed-up versions of “Train of Love” by Paul Reddick, “Big River” by Colin Linden, and “Folsom Prison Blues” by Blackie & the Rodeo Kings; a jazzy “Get Rhythm” featuring Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Beny Davis; and a mariachi instrumental rendition of “Send a Picture of Mother” by Kevin Bret. Also affecting are the more acoustic-leaning numbers, including Chris Thomas King’s “Rock Island Line,” Maria Muldaur’s “Walking the Blues,” and Alvin Youngblood Hart’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (a Kris Kristofferson song that Cash made into a hit). And a genuine love for Cash and his music unites the efforts of such unlikely contributors (at least on the same project) as Mavis Staples, Garland Jeffries, and Sleepy LaBeef. In all, an imaginative triumph. Steve Futterman

All Music Guide

Effectively honoring an amazing song from an amazing performer requires that you kick against the grass marking the steps of the master. Cash's country music re-oriented toward its blues element gives kickers a general direction for a collection hitting more shin than soupçon. Paul Reddick's "Train of Love" whirs into life on its master tape capstan and jumps track 13 seconds in a show of off-roading; "I have wondered," he ponders in the liner notes, "how things might have been if Johnny had hired Mississippi Fred McDowell (Luther Perkins is chopped liver?) as the guitar player for the Tennessee Three." Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown joins forces with Benjy Davis to swing out "Get Rhythm," taking turns sounding agreeably road-wearied. Chris Thomas King tunes his 12-string guitar "down to B flat standard, which is the way Leadbelly played it," and recasts "Rock Island Line" as a talking blues, which it almost was anyway, then skates away on the train engineer's cheer at cheating the toll (though no one ever asks whether the burned toll man's waiting for him on the return trip). Faced with doing over a perfect song with a perfect arrangement, Garland Jeffreys brilliantly deduces that a little more makes a lot more, and filigrees "I Walk the Line" in accordion and a more pronounced "boom-chicka-boom." Harry Manx's "Long Black Veil" shimmers under his predictable but effective slide guitar and surprising touches of Indian instrumentation, plus desperate gospel-fueled backing vocals, stripping finality from tone, turning the song over into an unsolved mystery. OK, Alvin Youngblood Hart doesn't sound like he knows what he's doing on "Sunday Morning Coming Down"; he asks "Well, who hasn't been there?" in the notes, and the problem is he sounds like almost everybody else who's been there. But then along comes Sleepy LaBeef, sounding like his voice went down one half-step for each of his 68 years, singing "Frankie's Man Johnny" like no one ever told him it wasn't his. Don't settle for walking if you can swoosh. ~ Andrew Hamlin, All Music Guide