16 Biggest Hits

Product Description:

Also available in a 3-pack with WILLIE NELSON: 16 BIGGEST HITS and GEORGE JONES: 16 BIGGEST HITS.

Producers include: Bob Johnston, Don Law, Frank Jones, Johnny Cash, Charlie Bragg.

A Johnny Cash song has two components: Cash's deep, gravelly baritone, and that distinctive, "chicken pickin'" guitar and bass line. But as 16 BIGGEST HITS demonstrates, it's what Cash managed to do with those two simple ingredients that makes him a legend. A country singer with a rock & roll heart, Cash mixed traditional country idioms with the lyrical sensibility of his pal Bob Dylan to create songs that were at once of-the-moment ("The Ballad of Ira Hayes") and timeless ("Ring of Fire").

16 BIGGEST HITS includes a fine sampling of Cash's favorite themes: the socially-conscious protest song ("The Man in Black"), the humorous story song ("One Piece at a Time"), and the song of longing and desire ("Flesh and Blood," "I Still Miss Someone"). Also included are the classic "Folsom Prison Blues" (the superior 1968 live version), the snarling put-down "Understand Your Man," and Cash's definitive version of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down." The 8-minute track "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer" is a veritable radio play, complete with sound effects and character voices. But since a single disc can't possibly reflect the scope of Cash's output, consider 16 BIGGEST HITS the appetizer to a grand musical banquet.