Johnny Cash

Live From Austin TX

New West/Fontana North

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

01/09/2007 7:53pm

Cash had his own long-running television show before most of you were born, but he's said that this 1987 Austin City Limits performance was one of his finest ever for the small screen. The '80s found Cash at a low point in his career, as the hits of the previous three decades had dried up and he had yet to be resurrected through his series of records with Rick Rubin. His rich baritone isn't as strong here as it once was, but most of the 14 songs are terrific, and many of them are all-time greats in the annals of country music. Mariachi horns add spice to "Ring Of Fire," the band let their teeth show a bit on "Big River," and I defy you not to hum and tap your foot along to "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky." Cash is gone, but documents like this won't ever let him be forgotten.