The Last Gunfighter Ballad

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The Last Gunfighter Ballad
JohnnyCashTheLastGunfighterBallad.jpg
Studio album by Johnny Cash
Released January 1977
Recorded 1976
Genre
Language English
Label Columbia
Producer
  • Charlie Bragg
  • Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash chronology
A Concert Behind Prison Walls
(1976)A Concert Behind Prison Walls1976
The Last Gunfighter Ballad
(1977)
The Rambler
(1977)The Rambler1977

The Last Gunfighter Ballad is the 55th album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1977. Highlights include the title track, "Far Side Banks of Jordan" and "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine", the latter of which features Cash's brother Tommy Cash. The title track was the album's only single, reaching #38 on the country charts; it tells the tale of an aging gunslinger who finds himself unable to deal with the modern way of life.

"Ballad of Barbara" is a new recording of a song that had first appeared as the B-side of Cash's 1973 single "Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup", while "City Jail" is a studio version of a track first released on the live album På Österåker. "Far Side Banks of Jordan", a duet featuring Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, is a remake of a track first recorded in 1975 for a planned Gospel album that was recorded in full, but for reasons unknown was never released (the 1975 version of the song, along with the other tracks, would not be released until 2012). The song is noted for its lyrics which feature June pondering the possibility of dying before her husband (she would in fact die several months before Cash in 2003).[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2/5 stars link

Track listing

  1. "I Will Dance With You" (Cash) – 2:49
  2. "The Last Gunfighter Ballad" (Guy Clark) – 2:48
  3. "Far Side Banks of Jordan" (Terry Smith) – 2:42
  4. "Ridin' on the Cotton Belt" (Cash) – 3:25
  5. "Give It Away" (Tom T. Hall) – 2:55
  6. "You're So Close to Me" (Mac Davis) – 2:50
  7. "City Jail" (Cash) – 3:56
  8. "Cindy I Love You" (Cash) – 2:15
  9. "Ballad of Barbara" (Cash) – 3:49
  10. "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine" (Gene Autry, Jimmy Long) – 2:54

Personnel

  • Johnny Cash - vocals
  • Bob Wootton, Jerry Hensley, Jack Routh - guitar
  • Marshall Grant, Roy Goin, Mike Leech - bass
  • WS Holland - drums
  • Larry McCoy, Earl Poole Ball - piano
  • Farrell Morris - percussion
  • Tommy Cash - vocals
  • June Carter Cash - vocals
  • The Carter Family and Jan Howard - vocals

Additional personnel

  • Produced by: Charlie Bragg and Don Davis
  • Arranged by: Bill Walker
  • Recorded at Sound Spectrum Recording, Inc. (House of Cash Studios)
  • Engineers: Charlie Bragg, Roger Tucker, Danny Jones, Chuck Bragg
  • Photography: Bill Barnes
  • Liner Notes: Johnny Cash (as John D. (Deadeye) Cash)

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1977 Country Albums 29

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1977 "The Last Gunfighter Ballad" Country Singles 38

References

  1. Gregg Geller, "Producer's Note", Johnny Cash, Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul of Truth. Columbia/Legacy Records 88697985382, 2012

External links


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