Johnny Cash Christmas 1976 (2007)

Johnny Cash was a unique figure in the turbulent 1970s, outspoken enough to be embraced by the counterculture, and yet conventional enough to be safe for middle America. It was in this latter mode that Cash devised one of his most successful forays into television ever: The Johnny Cash Christmas Special. Now for the first time since the original airing on CBS is the Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976.

Program Listing 76:
Wandering - Johnny Cash
Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree - Tony Orlando, Johnny & June Carter Cash
Christmas As I Knew It - Johnny Cash
Far Away Places - Johnny Cash & Roy Clark
Juke Box Saturday Night - Roy Clark
That Lucky Old Sun - Johnny Cash
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)- Roy Clark
Stephen Foster Medley:
Camptown Races - Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando
Beautiful Dreamer - Roy Clark
Old Folks At Home - Johnny Cash
Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair - Tony Orlando
Oh! Susanna - Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando
Follow Me - June Carter Cash
Cannonball Rag - Merle Travis
That Christmasy Feeling - Tommy Cash
In The Pines - Carter Family
Steel Guitar Rag - Barbara Mandrell
It's A Beautiful Morning With You - Barbara Mandrell
Old Time Feeling - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
A Story Of Christmas - Billy Graham

Love Johnny Cash

I am so very pleased with the Johnny Cash Christmas '76. Since Johnny is no longer with us, this is an album to treasure. I am happy that I bought it. January 26, 2008

Not worth it

It's not quite what I was imagining. It's just one episode from his show, the "Christmas Special". Short, not really worth the money. December 11, 2007

johnny cash Christmas 1976

I enjoyed both of the Johnny Cash Christmas shows: 1976 & 1977. They were great. June Nelson December 7, 2007

Home for the holidays with Johnny Cash and friends

By the mid-1970s, Johnny Cash was a veteran TV performer, and new how to keep a show humming. This seasonal special recalls the roasts and variety shows that were so popular at the time, packed with guests, gags and corny, prepackaged humor... But there's also the obvious sincerity that Johnny and June Carter Cash brought to their holiday cheer...

Filmed in their spacious ranch home, the show is conceived of as a big Christmas party, with their friends coming over for dinner and for a folksy, round-robin "guitar pull," where each guest taking a turn pickin', singing or telling a story. The performers include "Hee Haw" star Roy Clark and pop crooner Tony Orlando, who harmonize with Cash on a long medley of Stephen Foster classics, as well as Johnny's brother Tommy, superpicker Merle Travis (who picks a mean version of "The Cannonball Rag") and Johnny's pastor, Billy Graham, who closes the show with a grim Christmas parable about a rough-and-tumble mining camp that gets civilized through Jesus, but only after all kinds of violent, bloody behavior. (Yikes. What a buzzkill!)

The biggest surprise, though, comes from countrypolitan queen Barbara Mandrell, then at the height of her fame, who Cash remembers as a little girl who played steel guitar when he first met her... And sure enough, she sits down at the pedal steel and plays an impressive version of "Steel Guitar Rag." Who knew?? Although the pacing of the show is clunky, it was in keeping with the standards of live TV at the time, and it's a marvelous time capsule in many ways (especially the fashion: dig those cowboy duds on Tony Orlando!) Cash fans will definitely want to check this one out... students of the 'Seventies as well! (DJ Joe Sixpack - Slipcue) November 20, 2007

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