On This Day in 1970, Johnny Cash Recorded the Live Album That Launched Kris Kristofferson’s Career

On this day (July 10) in 1970, Johnny Cash recorded his third live album, The Johnny Cash Show, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. It was released as a tie-in with his TV show of the same name and became a No. 1 album for the Man in Black. The album also spawned the single, “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” which also went to No. 1 on the country chart. The song’s success helped boost the popularity of the up-and-coming songwriter Kris Kristofferson.

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Cash and Kristofferson met at the Columbia Records recording studio a few years before Cash made “Sunday Morning Coming Down” a hit. Kristofferson, an Oxford graduate and U.S. Army Captain, was a custodian at the studio, and Cash recorded there. The then-unknown songwriter regularly pitched the country legend his songs. Their working relationship later became a friendship that would span decades.

[RELATED: 3 Songs Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Johnny Cash to Record First (1970-1984)]

Before recording The Johnny Cash Show, Cash performed “Sunday Morning Coming Down” on his TV show. Additionally, Kristofferson appeared as a guest on the show in May 1970. In short, the Man in Black was doing his best to introduce the music-loving world to Kristofferson.

The songwriter released his debut album, Kristofferson, in June 1970. Upon its initial release, the album was a commercial flop. Then, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” became a hit when Cash recorded it. In November of that year, it brought Kristofferson the Song of the Year Award at the CMA Awards. The album peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart in 1971.

Johnny Cash Wasn’t the First to Record Kris Kristofferson’s Career-Making Hit

Johnny Cash was the first artist to give Kris Kristofferson a No. 1 song as a songwriter. However, he was not the first to cut one of the songwriter’s tunes. According to Songfacts, Ray Stevens was the first to cut “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in 1969.

“Nobody had ever put that much money and effort into recording one of my songs,” Kristofferson said. “I remember the first time I heard it–he’s a wonderful singer–I had to leave the publishing house, and I sat on the steps and wept because it was such a beautiful thing,” he added.

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