Back in 1971, Johnny Cash was at the apotheosis of his career. He had a hit TV show, a slew of classic albums and a handful of pop hits like “A Boy Named Sue.” This concert in Denmark finds the Man in Black in perfect voice and attitude, singing like an emissary of Americana with his band as well as guests like the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins.
Cash is solid gold with his band of Marshall Grant/b, WS Holland/dr and Bob Wootoon/ as he delivers riveting takes of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Guess Things Happen That Way.” Carl Perkins is in gloriously rockabilly form as he swings through “Blue Suede Shoes” and Matchbox.” The Staler Brothers meld rich harmonies on “Bed of Roses” and ”Flowers on the Wall,” while June Carter Cash joins with her husband in a rich read of “If I Were a Carpenter and “Help Me Make it Through The Night.”
The Carter sisters of Anita, Helen and June take you to traditional roots with “A Song for Mama” and Mother Maybelle jons in with Cash and the Statler Bothers for “No Need TO Worry” and “Rock of Ages.” By the time Perkins joins in for a homespun of church music like “Children, Go Where I Send Thee,” you’re going to wonder where American music made its wrong turn. Music this real, penetrating and mixing the secular and sacred with ease is just not done anymore, and we are worse off for it.