Jack White’s Nashville-based Third Man Records continues its quarterly series of unique, collectible recordings with the upcoming release of Vault Package 45, A Night to Remember, by Johnny Cash. Memorializing a previously unavailable 1973 concert at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, the vinyl package includes a double vintage-white LP and gold-foil LP jacket, a gold 7” single featuring an A-side with “Dark and Bloody Ground,” a previously unavailable track from Ruston Kelly, and a super-secret “mystery artist” featured on the single’s B-side. Both cuts were recorded for the Forever Words compilation, a 2018 collection of Cash’s poetry and lyrics set to music for the first time, and a DVD of the performance. Sign-up for the limited-edition package is now open through midnight Central Time on July 31st.
By 1973, Johnny Cash was well on his way to American icon status, having already become one of the most popular musicians on the planet. As a longtime artist on powerhouse Columbia Records, helmed at the time by Clive Davis, Cash was included in a unique series of shows taking place in Los Angeles beginning in late April of that year and running until May 5th. Appropriately billed as “A Week to Remember,” each night’s performance, with the highest ticket price just $7.50, featured pop, rock, jazz, R&B, folk, and country acts. Of special note was one of the labels’ most buzzworthy new acts, Bruce Springsteen, making his formal L.A. debut on a night that also featured Dr. Hook.
On May 5th, the series’ seventh and final night at the Ahmanson, Cash was featured alongside fellow Nashville superstars Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Lynn Anderson, and Charlie Rich for a performance that included some of the Man in Black’s most memorable hits: a mighty “Big River,” a masterful take on Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”; “Folsom Prison Blues”; and “I Walk the Line.” The Third Man release marks the first time Cash’s full show from that night has ever been available as a multi-track recording, with the DVD featuring backstage footage and highlights of Cash’s live show, which featured guest appearances from June Carter Cash, Larry Gatlin, and Carl Perkins.
A Night to Remember track list:
- “Big River”
- “Sunday Morning Coming Down”
- “The City of New Orleans”
- “Ballad of Barbara”
- “A Boy Named Sue”
- “Going to Memphis”
- “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” (with Carl Perkins)
- Medley: “Hey Porter”/“Folsom Prison Blues”/“Wreck of the Old 97”/“Orange Blossom Special”
- “I Walk the Line”
- “Jackson” (with June Carter Cash)
- “If I Were a Carpenter” (with June Carter Cash)
- “Help Me Make It Through the Night”
- “Help Me” (with June Carter Cash and Larry Gatlin)
- “Lord, Is It I?”/“The Last Supper”
- “If I Had a Hammer” (with June Carter Cash)
- “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” (with June Carter Cash and Carl Perkins)
- “Daddy Sang Bass” (with June Carter Cash and Carl Perkins)
- “Folsom Prison Blues” (outro)
