On This Day in 1964, Johnny Cash Released His No. 1 Album ‘I Walk the Line’—Which Included a No. 1 Song Cash Despised

Album number 19 was a big one for Johnny Cash. On June 1, 1964, the country legend released his now iconic LP, I Walk the Line.

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In a Facebook post celebrating the album’s 60th anniversary in 2024, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame noted that, on the LP, Cash’s “unmistakable voice is as deep and resonant as ever, as he introduces new songs via Columbia Records and re-records several Sun Records classics.”

“It features his signature muted strumming and single-note techniques on the guitar and spotlights his vulnerable storytelling through simple yet effective techniques: quality vocals, strong guitar support, and meaningful lyrics,” the post read.

The album reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s country chart at peaked at No. 53 on the outlet’s pop chart. I Walk the Line also spawned a No. 1 country single with “Understand Your Man.” The same song reached No. 35 on the pop chart. The album’s other single, “Bad News,” landed the No. 8 spot on the country chart.

Three years after its release, I Walk the Line was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Johnny Cash on the Song “I Walk the Line”

The LP featured a re-recording of the song “I Walk the Line,” which Cash first released in 1956 with Sun Records. The track, which appeared on Cash’s debut album, Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!, became the singer’s first No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s country chart.

Despite the song’s success, Cash wasn’t a fan of the recording when he first heard it on the radio.

“I called Sam Phillips and asked him please not to send out any more records of that song,” Cash told NPR in 1997. “He laughed at me. I just didn’t like the way it sounded to me. I didn’t know I sounded that way. And I didn’t like it. I don’t know. But he said let’s give it a chance… That’s all it took to take off.”

It was the title song for a 1970 film starring Gregory Peck, and for the 2005 biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix.

Photo by Gai Terrell/Redferns