Customer Reviews

Johnny Cash Christmas 1977

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By the mid-1970s, Johnny Cash was a veteran TV performer, and new how to keep a show humming. This disc follows an earlier show from 1976 that featured Johnny and June Carter Cash hosting a folksy, round-robin "guitar pull" in their spacious Tennessee ranch house.

The following year, Cash had a much glitzier, punchier production, trading his funky ranch home vibe for a big, shiny soundstage, decked out with a gigantic golden holly wreath and twenty-foot tall panels of frosted-glass snowflakes. This show, which broadcast on November 30, 1977, was also a tighter show, mainly featuring the seasoned cast of Cash's long-running road show: June Carter Cash, the reconstituted Carter Family, Carl Perkins and the ever-jovial Statler Brothers, and another appearance by Roy Clark, who helped anchor the previous year's Christmas show. Although there's plenty of holiday music and seasonal cheer, there's also a wealth of secular music -- Johnny and June sing a duet of "Darling Companion," and the second half of the show is devoted to a tribute to Elvis Presley, who had passed away a few months earlier. Along with Carl Perkins, Cash hosts other buddies from his Sun Records rockabilly years -- Roy Orbison is in fine form on "Pretty Woman," while Jerry Lee Lewis tears it up on a modernized "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," then slows things down for a sentimental reading of "White Christmas." Surprisingly, the Carter Family is kept mostly in the background -- Mother Maybelle wasn't in the show at all -- while Anita and the sisters only sang as part of a larger chorus. All in all, this is a lively, well-paced TV show, with a very sincere religious emotional core, sure to be a delight for Cash fans and country Christmas enthusiasts everywhere. Recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack/Slipcue)

Sun Records legends in a rare late appearance!

One wonders if the famous Sun Records "Million Dollar Quartet" would not have been even more represented had Elvis not died just two months before the hour-long (well 44 minutes after the commercials were deleted) was broadcast in November 1977.

(The original Amazon listing said "1976". I hope they correct it soon!)

It's a "Johnny Cash Show" but with full solo appearances (of NON- holiday songs) by Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and (two songs by) Jerry Lee Lewis, this is much, much more. All these guys get two sing together on a bunch of gospel tunes such as "This Train" and "Children Go Where I Send Thee" which are not holiday tunes. So, even though the word "Christmas" is in the title, be aware that only a few are Christmas themed and this is easily watchable all year round.

The show was Directed by Walter C. miller who has won many Emmys for the awards shows he's directed. And the print is crystal clear. It could have been broadcast yesterday.

One sure wishes for bonus features like "outtakes" - guess we expect extras on all DVds these days - but there obviously weren't any.

The performers were obviously having a GREAT time hanging with their friends and it shows. This one's a MUST for Sun rockabilly fans and anyone who wants to revist the grand old days of TV's "variety" shows.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

I enjoyed this dvd very much, it was done very well, brought back good memories, the Johnny Cash Show was always special. I have been a big fan of Roy and since he and Johnny were dear friends and neighbors, I watched.
Any Johnny Cash fans out there will love this dvd. And here at Christmas time, 2007 will make a wonderfull gift.

Thank you,
Billie

I have to admit I bought this DVD as it contained a tribute to Elvis, my hero. I am so glad I did because the tribute with Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis is a real treat. Furthermore, the remainder of the show is fantastic. Johnny Cash is great as are his guests so if you like good music with a Christmas touch then you will enjoy this DVD. Hearing Jerry Lee do White Christmas is also a treat!!

This was just the most excellent Johnny Cash Christmas Special.
I remember watching it on tv when they did it.I was 11 years old and I thoroughly enjoyed ity then and now since Mysister had got this DVD for me.
The music was very special to hear for any huge Johnny Cash Fan such as I am.
They had great musicians and singers on there as well.
Watching it tonight really brought me back to some great memories.
The Christmas Music was so beautiful.I know there were more Johnny Cash Christmas Specials they did one every year for a number of years.They had stopped doing them right before I got My first VCR so I was never able to tape them.

Jeanne Zinda

I collect Christmas movies and am happy to add this to my collection. This Christmas show is just what my parents loved to watch growing up in the 70s. Johnny Cash was a humble gracious friend to ignoble people because of his great faith in Jesus Christ who died to save sinners. He could reach them because he was one of them.. Aren't we all?

Excellent quality,both sound and picture.To see those Sun legends together was something special.They don't make shows like this anymore,and there will never be artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins again.Great.

I had excellent quality and service on this purchase as I expected. I have bought from Amazon for many years now and I have never been disappointed.