Johnny Cash and various artists

The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show

It has been 38 years since “The Johnny Cash Show” premiered on ABC, just about two months before the immortal concert at Woodstock. At the time, country music was deeply entrenched in the conservative and traditional Southern mentality, but Cash, always a rebel, refused to conform to the expectations of the genre. It was on his show that America got its first chance to see some of the most important performers of the hippie era along with country’s superstars, and music was clearly the great uniter. Columbia Legacy has selected 66 incredible clips from the show’s two-year run, and each one is an indispensable bit of musical history. Opening with Bob Dylan’s foray into country with a couple of tracks from his Nashville Skyline album, Cash welcomes a cast of acts including Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Pete Seeger, George Jones, Neil Young, Derek & the Dominoes, Bill Monroe and many more. Song for song, it’s all good. 5 stars.