Johnny Cash and Guests

On Facebook, I've recently been tagged to list 15 albums that changed my life. That's going to be a challenge because it is a distinctly different assignment than listing "15 Desert Island Albums" or "15 Best Albums of All Time" or "15 Albums Listened to in the Past Week." So, more thinking will be needed.

One album that came to mind is the eponymous John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton). I think I became more of a fan of John Mayall than Clapton after that album (though I mean no disrespect to Clapton). That memory led me to YouTube, where I found this collaboration from the Johnny Cash Show ca. 1970, with Johnny playing "Matchbox" with Carl Perkins and a young Eric Clapton. Clapton also performed on that episode with Derek and the Dominos.



After that, I was tempted to chase down three paths: (1) More "Matchbox"; (2) More Clapton; (3) More Carl Perkins. Instead I decided to find a few other guests who appeared on Johnny's show. Here's Neil Young, with a nice introductory tribute frmo Johnny:



And here's Johnny Cash in a duet with Bob Dylan from one of the great songs from the "Nashville Skyline" album (which may end up on my Top 15 Influential Album list.



I wish to assure any readers that I will get into the 21st century one of these days.

John Martyn RIP

I’ve not kept up with current events lately, so just learned that folk/jazz singer-songwriter John Martyn died last week at age 60. The NYT obit is here. My post about Martyn back in October can be found here.

In memory, here’s a video of John Martyn performing his perfectly lovely tune, May You Never, with lyrics suitable for an Irish wake. (You may know Eric Clapton's cover of this song on his Slow Hand album).


May you never lay your head down, without a hand to hold.
May you never make your bed out in the cold.
May you never lose your temper in a barroom fight
May you never lose your woman overnight.