On September 24, an previously unreleased 1968 live album by Johnny Cash that was recorded by Owsley “Bear” Stanley, the Grateful Dead’s legendary concert documentarian (and lysergic sherpa), will be issued by the Owsley Stanley Foundation and Renew Records/BMG.
“Bear’s Sonic Journals: Johnny Cash, at the Carousel Ballroom, April 24 1968,” is a 28-song concert — featuring two Bob Dylan covers — recorded in San Francisco by “Bear,” the famously secretive sound engineer and counterculture figure whose recordings make up a large percentage of the Dead’s sprawling concert archive. Recorded in the heart of Haight-Ashbury, just days before the release of Cash’s iconic “At Folsom Prison” album, the recording is a third live document from the era, recorded a venue operated by the Dead and the Jefferson Airplane.
The live album, which will be released on CD/2LP, features new essays by Johnny and June Carter Cash’s son John Carter Cash, Owsley Stanley’s son Starfinder Stanley, the Dead’s Bob Weir, and Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools, as well as new art by Susan Archie, and a reproduction of the original Carousel Ballroom concert poster by Steve Catron. The release will also be widely available in all digital formats by Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment.
The album captured Cash onstage with his then- new bride June Carter, and backed by his legendary band the Tennessee Three: guitarist Luther Perkins, bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. Holland. His set list that evening diverged from other concerts of the time, as Cash chose to cover two Bob Dylan compositions (“Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright,” and his earliest known recording of “One Too Many Mornings”) and perform songs of the overlooked and underserved such as “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” It also marks the latest entry in the Owsley Stanley Foundation’s :Bear’s Sonic Journals” series, which has previously included Stanley’s live recordings of The Allman Brothers Band, Tim Buckley, Doc & Merle Watson and many more.
JOHNNY CASH AT THE CAROUSEL BALLROOM, APRIL 24, 1968 TRACKLIST
Cocaine Blues
Long Black Veil
Orange Blossom Special (CD and Digital only)
Going to Memphis
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The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Rock Island Line
Guess Things Happen That Way
One Too Many Mornings
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Give My Love to Rose
Green, Green Grass of Home
Old Apache Squaw
Lorena
Forty Shades of Green
Bad News
Jackson
Tall Lover Man
June’s Song Introduction
Wildwood Flower
Foggy Mountain Top
This Land Is Your Land
Wabash Cannonball
Worried Man Blues
Long Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man
Ring of Fire
Big River
Don’t Take Your Guns to Town
I Walk the Line
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