In honor of the 20th anniversary of Johnny Cash’s death, his former record label, Sun Records, is releasing a special reissue of his career-defining album, Johnny Cash – Sings The Songs That Made Him Famous. Originally released on December 1, 1958, the album was comprised of a series of singles that Cash recorded while signed to Sun Records from 1955 to 1958 before moving to Columbia Records.
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Among the songs he recorded for the album that helped solidify him as a revered country outlaw are the iconic “Walk the Line,” “Train of Love,” “Don’t Make Me Go” and Next in Line.” Of the 12 original tracks, eight were written by Cash. The album also features two songs written by Jack Clement that Cash turned into hits, “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” and “Guess Things Happen That Way.” Cash took “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and No. 14 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, while “Guess” became his fourth No. 1 hit on the country charts where it stayed for eight weeks.
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“He wasn’t Nashville, he wasn’t rock n’ roll, and he wasn’t honky tonk. He was simply Johnny Cash, and he first made a name for himself with a series of singles for Sun Records that the label eventually anthologized and released in 1958 as his aptly-titled sophomore album, Johnny Cash – Sings The Songs That Made Him Famous,” a press release stated.
“Big River” and “The Ways of a Woman in Love” are among the other hits on the album that was first reissued in 2003. The new edition, available on October 13, has been remastered from the original tapes and will be printed on orange vinyl.
Cash passed away on September 12, 2003, at the age of 71 following complications from diabetes. His wife, June Carter Cash, died four months prior in May at the age of 73 due to complications from heart-valve replacement surgery.
(Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
