Johnny Cash Album: “Water from the Wells of Home [Bonus Tracks]”

Ballad of a teenage queen, a cover of one of Johnny's fifties songs, opens proceedings - it features daughter Rosanne. As long as I live is an old Roy Acuff song - this version features Emmylou, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Roy Acuff, who by this time was a very old man. Where did we go right feature June Carter and the Carter family, although I much prefer Lacy J Dalton's version of this song, recorded about a year later for her album Lacy J.

Last of the drifters features Tom T Hall, the man who wrote Harper Valley PTA for Jeannie C Riley before becoming a successful country singer of his own songs. Call me the breeze is a cover of J J Cale's classic song, but my favorite version is the one by Lynyrd Skynyrd. That old wheel is a brilliant duet with Hank Williams Junior. Sweeter than the flowers is a classic oldie - this version features Waylon, Emmylou and Jessi.

The next two tracks provided the biggest surprises. A croft in Clachan is set in Scotland and features Glen Campbell. New moon over Jamaica features Paul McCartney. The album closes with the title track.

This is not the place to begin a collection of Johnny Cash music but it is a fascinating collection in its own right.

This album, first issued in 1988, had been out of print since I became a Johnny Cash fan in 1993. It finally was reissued this spring. It's GREAT. Catchy tunes, with guest parts by singers such as Paul McCartney, the Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr. But the highlight, for me, are a couple of really moving songs about family love. One is a grieving song from adult children to their late mother. It's so unusual for popular music to address parent-child love. There's probably one parent-child love song for every 1,000 songs about infatuation -- and almost never an ode from child to parent. This is a beautiful one. Johnny Cash enjoyed something of a resurgence a few years ago when people in their teens and 20s started listening to his stuff. But in my mind, this album is better than anything he has done more recently.

I initially purchased this CD because of "Ballad of a Teenage Queen", and the other songs didn't do too much, but after playing the CD a couple of times, I can't put this down. I put the CD in a jukebox in "country" northern Wisconsin, and it goes great, especially "A Croft in a Clachan? )

TOTALLY disagree with a reviewer stating "johnny waiting to die." How can you dismiss this CD? The track with his daughter Rosanne and the Everly brothers is my favorite. But this album sheds new light and a different sound than any other cash album. If nothing more, you need it for that reason alone. I do agree this album grows on you, as I like it more now, than when I purchased.

This album came highly recommended to me, and it disappointed me somewhat. Sure, it is much better than his other 80's records (it sounds great, which mars his other great 80's record, "Johnny 99"). But the record should be titled "Johnny Cash and his Friends." The album showcases other talents (Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Paul McCartney, Hank williams Jr.), and the material Cash works with is subpar, but elevated only because of the earnest feeling he put into the recording. The album has a mourning sound -- like Cash was preparing to die. It's ironic, because 10 years later, he's still alive and kicking.