The Essential Johnny Cash (2002 album)

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The Essential Johnny Cash is a double-compact disc compilation by Johnny Cash released as part of Sony BMG's Essential series. It was compiled to commemorate Cash's 70th birthday. It is not to be confused with the three-CD box set of the same name released by Columbia Records in 1992.

The double album concentrates mainly on Cash's first 15 years as a recording artist with Sun Records and Columbia, contains only eight post-1970 selections, and no seletions from Cash's work with Rick Rubin for American Recordings: Cash's final hit single, a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", was released ten months later.

Amongst the 36 tracks on the compilation are two songs that feature Cash prominently but never appeared on any of his albums: "Girl from the North Country" from Bob Dylan's 1969 album Nashville Skyline, and "The Wanderer" from U2's 1993 album Zooropa.

As a testimony to Cash's wide sphere of influence on country, rock, and other modern musics and his wide fan base, the liner notes feature testimonials and 70th birthday greetings from a wide array of artists - not only from friends and fellow travelers and collaborators like Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty, ex-stepson-in-law Nick Lowe, and wife June Carter Cash, but from the likes of Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan of Slipknot, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, and Black Flag's Henry Rollins.

Track listing

Disc one

1. "Hey Porter" – 2:13
2. "Cry! Cry! Cry!" – 2:23
3. "I Walk the Line" – 2:43
4. "Get Rhythm" – 2:13
5. "There You Go" – 2:17
6. "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" (Jack Clement) – 2:11
7. "Big River" – 2:31
8. "Guess Things Happen That Way" (Jack Clement) – 1:49
9. "All Over Again" – 2:12
10. "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" – 3:02
11. "Five Feet High and Rising" – 1:46
12. "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma" (Richard Markowitz/Andrew Fenady) – 1:52
13. "Tennessee Flat Top Box" – 2:58
14. "I Still Miss Someone" (Johnny Cash/Roy Cash Jr.) – 2:34
15. "Ring of Fire" (June Carter/Merle Kilgore) – 2:35
16. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (Peter LaFarge) – 4:07
17. "Orange Blossom Special" (E.T. Rouse) – 3:06
18. "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)" (traditional, arranged by Johnny Cash) – 3:51

Disc two

1. "It Ain't Me, Babe" (Bob Dylan) – 3:03
   • Performed with June Carter Cash
2. "The One on the Right Is on the Left" (Jack Clement) – 2:47
3. "Jackson" (Gaby Rodgers/Billy Edd Wheeler) – 2:44
   • Performed with June Carter Cash
4. "Folsom Prison Blues" (live version) – 2:44
5. "Daddy Sang Bass" (Carl Perkins) – 2:20
6. "Girl from the North Country" (Bob Dylan) – 3:42
   • Performed by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash; from Dylan's Nashville Skyline
7. "A Boy Named Sue" (Shel Silverstein) – 3:46
8. "If I Were a Carpenter" (Tim Hardin) – 2:59
   • Performed with June Carter Cash
9. "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" (Kris Kristofferson) – 4:09
10. "Flesh and Blood" – 2:36
11. "Man in Black" – 2:52
12. "Ragged Old Flag" - 3:09
13. "One Piece at a Time" (Wayne Kemp) – 4:01
14. "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" (Stan Jones) – 3:44
15. "Song of the Patriot" (Marty Robbins/S. Milete) - 3:29
    • Performed with Marty Robbins
16. "Highwayman" (Jimmy Webb) – 3:03
    • Performed with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen
17. "The Night Hank Williams Came to Town" (B. Braddock/C. Williams) - 3:24
    • Performed with Waylon Jennings
18. "The Wanderer" (Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton) – 4:43
    • Performed by U2 featuring Johnny Cash; from U2's album Zooropa

All songs written by Johnny Cash except where noted.

Testimonals

The following people provided testimonials and/or 70th birthday greetings for the CD's liner notes (in this order):

• June Carter Cash
• Willie Nelson
• Kris Kristofferson
• Merle Haggard
• George Jones
• Rosanne Cash
• Rodney Crowell
• Paul McCartney
• Bono (of U2)
• The Edge (of U2)
• Leonard Cohen
• John Mellencamp

• Raul Malo (of The Mavericks)
• Dave Matthews
• Tom Waits
• Chrissie Hynde
• Keith Richards
• Tom Petty
• Elvis Costello
• Ray Davies
• Nick Lowe
• Sam Shepard
• Billy Bob Thornton
• Matt McDonough (of Mudvayne)

• Shawn Crahan (of Slipknot)
• Corey Taylor (of Slipknot and Stone Sour)
• Kirk Hammett (of Metallica)
• Henry Rollins
• Shelby Lynne
• Al Gore
• Nick Cave
• Trisha Yearwood
• Steve Earle
• Tim Robbins

Chart performance

Chart (2002)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	16
U.S. Billboard 200	102