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Johnny Cash: Bootleg Vol. 3: Live Around the World

Columbia/Legacy

In his liner notes to this third volume of rarities from the Man in Black’s personal archives, veteran rockcrit Dave Marsh couldn’t put it more succinctly: Johnny Cash spoke truth to power. He did it in a voice that was subtly confrontational but always genuine, which might explain how he got himself invited to play the White House in April 1970—a time when Nixon was feeling the squeeze of an unpopular war in Vietnam. Cash supported the troops there (his rowdy versions of “Cocaine Blues,” “Jackson” and “Ring of Fire,” from his USO trip to Long Binh with wife June, are included on this two-disc set), but he also identified with youthful protesters at home, and decided to make the sermon-like “What Is Truth?” the focal point of his White House gig. Nixon apparently took it well; two years later, he invited Cash back.

Live Around the World covers more than 20 years on the road, with highlights from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival (featuring Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and a take of “I Still Miss Someone” that’s unusually mournful, even for Cash), a 1972 stop at a Swedish prison (Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down”), and jamborees from Texas to Tennessee. Through all of the locations and lineup changes, Cash looms tall and strong, singing his heart out for the underdog.