In the Summer of 1976,
Johnny Cash and Friends - taped at the Grand Ole Opry - ran on CBS as a Summer replacement series. While it was short-lived itself, it spawned a Johnny Cash Christmas Special later that year. And that 1976 special was a success, so Johnny and his friends returns to do one each year for 1977, 1978 and 1979. Last November, Shout! Factory released the first two
Johnny Cash Christmas Specials, from 1976 and 1977, on DVD.
Now Shout! plans to release the 1978 and 1979 specials as separate items as well this coming
October 7th. On the same date, Shout! will also release all four of these collected together into a box set. Here is the package art for that collection, followed by the box art for the individual releases (which are the same except for coloring and the year portion of the title). Below those you'll see Shout!'s formal press release, with all of the details of these new releases:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Shout! Factory and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum
Celebrate Christmas with the "Man In Black" and Friends
The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979 (4 DVD Box Set)
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1978 (Single DVD)
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1979 (Single DVD)
In Stores October 7
Los Angeles, CA; August 11, 2008 - Shout! Factory is delighted to bring you holiday cheer with the October 7 release of the 4-DVD box set
The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979, as well as single DVD releases of
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1978 and
1979.
The Christmas Specials of 1976 and
1977 were released in 2007. The footage on these DVDs has been unseen for 30 years, and is being made available through an exclusive agreement between Shout! Factory and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
For his 1978 Christmas Special, the third in as many years, Cash moved the usually Tennessee-based taping to Los Angeles, and, unsurprisingly, the program takes on a Hollywood feel. Guests include Kris Kristofferson and singer Rita Coolidge, both friends of the Cash family, who perform a heartfelt "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends," and Steve Martin, one of America's hottest new comics at the time. June Carter Cash, as always, performs with her husband, and other family members make appearances in this special as well.
For the 1979 broadcast, Cash's annual CBS Christmas special returns to Nashville for a program featuring his father, Ray Cash, and his older brother, Roy Cash, in a visit to the small home in Dyess, Arkansas, where Johnny and his siblings were raised. Guests include Canadian pop and country star Anne Murray ("You Needed Me"), who was enjoying the most successful period of her career, and country music's Tom T. Hall, whom Cash introduces as "my very favorite songwriter" before Cash and Hall launch into a medley of Hall's hits "(Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine," "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died," "I Love" and "Country Is." The show's comic foil is the late Andy Kaufman, who appears as his character Latka Gravas from the hit network show
Taxi.
The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979 4-DVD box set includes these two discs as well as the specials from 1976 and 1977, previously released on DVD in 2007 by Shout! Factory. Taped from the family homes in Bon Aqua and Hendersonville, Tennessee,
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976 featured special guests Roy Clark, Merle Travis, Barbara Mandrell, Tony Orlando and Billy Graham.
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977 includes an all-star tribute to Elvis Presley with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison, a selection of Christmas songs, as well as Perkins's "Blue Suede Shoes," Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," and Lewis's 1957 Sun smash "Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On."
About the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum:
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum's mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum's Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print. More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com or by calling (615) 416-2001.
About Shout! Factory:
Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture - The Stuff You Grew Up On But Never Outgrew. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory's DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company's audio catalogue boasts Grammy®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists and lovingly assembled album reissues. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.
The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976-1979
Distributed by Sony BMG
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Suggested List Price: $49.98
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976
Distributed by Sony BMG
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Suggested List Price: $14.98
Performances:
- Wandering - Johnny Cash
- Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree - Tony Orlando, Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- Christmas As I Knew It - Johnny Cash
- Far Away Places - Johnny Cash & Roy Clark
- Juke Box Saturday Night - Roy Clark
- That Lucky Old Sun - Johnny Cash
- The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Roy Clark
- Stephen Foster Medley
- Camptown Races - Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando
- Beautiful Dreamer - Roy Clark
- Old Folks At Home - Johnny Cash
- Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair - Tony Orlando
- Oh! Susanna - Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando
- Follow Me - June Carter Cash
- Cannonball Rag - Merle Travis
- That Christmasy Feeling - Tommy Cash
- In The Pines - Carter Family
- Steel Guitar Rag - Barbara Mandrell
- It's A Beautiful Morning With You - Barbara Mandrell
- Old Time Feeling - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- A Story Of Christmas - Billy Graham
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977
Distributed by Sony BMG
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Suggested List Price: $14.98
Performances:
- Christmas Time's A-Comin' - Johnny Cash
- Darlin' Companion - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- This Ole House - Johnny Cash & The Statler Brothers
- Blue Christmas - Johnny Cash & The Statler Brothers
- Here Comes Santa Claus - Johnny Cash & Roy Clark
- Frosty The Snow Man - Johnny Cash & Roy Clark
- Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Johnny Cash and Roy Clark
- Big River - Johnny Cash
- Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
- Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
- Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis
- White Christmas - Jerry Lee Lewis
- This Train Is Bound For Glory - Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison & Carl Perkins
- Silent Night -Johnny Cash, Family & Friends
- O Little Town Of Bethlehem - June Carter Cash
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Johnny Cash, Family & Friends
- Children Go Where I Send Thee - Johnny Cash, Family & Friends
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1978
Distributed by Sony BMG
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Suggested List Price: $14.98
Performances:
- Christmas Can't Be Far Away - Johnny Cash
- Talking About Friends - Steve Martin Comedy Sketch
- Ballad Of A Teenage Queen - Johnny Cash
- Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash & Kris Kristofferson
- I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home - Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson & Steve Martin
- Jean-Pierre Louey - Steve Martin Comedy Sketch
- Fourth Man - Johnny Cash
- I Will Rock And Roll With You - Johnny Cash
- You're A Part Of Me - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- Christmas Time's A-Comin' - Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
- Love Me Again - Rita Coolidge
- Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends - Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
- The Greatest Cowboy Of Them All - Johnny Cash
- The Card Trick - Steve Martin Comedy Sketch
- Silent Night - Johnny Cash with daughters Carlene, Tara, Rosanne, Cindy, Kathy & Rosie
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1979
Distributed by Sony BMG
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Suggested List Price: $14.98
Performances:
- Opening - Andy Kaufman Comedy Sketch
- (Ghost) Riders In The Sky - Johnny Cash
- Five Feet High And Rising - Johnny Cash
- You Needed Me - Anne Murray
- That Christmasy Feeling - Johnny Cash & Anne Murray
- The Ballad Of The Harp Weaver - Johnny Cash
- That's Why You Have To Be You - Tom T. Hall
- Tom T. Hall Medley:
- Country Is - Johnny Cash & Tom T. Hall
- Old Dogs, Children And Watermelon Wine - Tom T. Hall
- The Year That Clayton Delaney Died - Johnny Cash & Tom T. Hall
- I Love - Johnny Cash & Tom T. Hall
- Country Is - Johnny Cash& Tom T. Hall
- If I Were A Carpenter - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- That's When Your Heartaches Begin - Andy Kaufman
- Christmas Is - Tom T. Hall
- Back Up And Push - June Carter Cash
- Christmas Wishes - Anne Murray
- Let There Be Peace On Earth - Johnny Cash
