Reviewed by Heather Marsden

Take one living legend of country music, add a collection of talented country musicians and finally throw in lots of country gospel classics. This you might think is a recipe for a musical tribute that befits Johnny Cash's 50 years in the music business. Actually it's a recipe for disaster. Described as a "keepsake souvenir", this CD consists of 20 previously released recordings by a series of Cash's friends such as Pat Boon and George Hamilton IV. One of the CD's more serious flaws is that Cash himself features on only one track, a pleasant duet with Glen Campbell called "Suffer The Little Children". A few of the performances themselves are fine, however, each song is prefaced by a spoken tribute to Cash. These contain biographical and inspirational comments but many are repetitive and presented with all the schmaltz of the worst American Award Ceremony. Where else could you hear drug addiction described as a "little pharmaceutical difficulty"? It's hard to see who this CD is aimed at. There is little here for real fans and as an introduction to Cash's gospel music it fails abysmally.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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