Life Unheard

Johnny Cash

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Life Unheard Review

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The cover art for Time/Life's 2013 compilation Life Unheard is pretty clever -- it's designed to look like an old Life magazine from the '60s, which is when much of the music on this Johnny Cash rarities compilation was recorded -- but the "Unheard" suggests that this 12-track collection contains nothing but newly unearthed tracks, which is not strictly true. All but two of the 12 songs have appeared somewhere on Legacy's ongoing Cash Bootleg series, the two exceptions being the fine story-song "Ben Dewberry's Final Run," which appears to be from the '70s, and a pretty fun and funky travelogue that seems to date from the '80s. The rest -- which breaks down to six live tracks cut between 1969-1973; a demo called "Restless Kid"; and three excavations from the vault, "Life's Railway to Heaven," "It Takes One to Know Me," and "Truth" -- are all easily available, many on Vol. 3 of the Bootleg series, so collectors may wind up being slightly disappointed in this disc, but those who haven't dug into the Bootleg series will find this to be an appealing mishmash of concert cuts and solid studio leftovers from throughout Cash's entire run at Columbia.

Track Listing

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time	Stream
1	Big River [Live at Annex 14 NCO Club, Long Binh, Vietnam, January 1969] Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash	01:59
2	I Walk the Line [Live at Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, July 16, 1964] Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash	02:34	Amazon
3	Give My Love to Rose [Live at Wheeling Jamboree, Wheeling, WV, October 2, 1976] Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash feat: Marshall Grant / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	02:52	Amazon
4	What Is Truth [Live at The White House, Washington, D.C., April 17, 1970] Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash feat: Marshall Grant / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	02:39	Amazon
5	Daddy Sang Bass [Live at The White House, Washington, D.C., April 17, 1970] Carl Perkins	Johnny Cash feat: Marshall Grant / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	02:31	Amazon
6	(Ghost) Riders in the Sky [Live at Exit Inn, Nashville, Tenn, December 10, 1979]	Johnny Cash feat: Marshall Grant / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	03:41	Amazon
7	Restless Kid [Demo] Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash	01:53	Amazon
8	Ben Dewberry’s Final Run	Johnny Cash feat: Earl Poole Ball / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	03:52	Amazon
9	Life’s Railway to Heaven M.E. Abbey / C.D. Tillman	Johnny Cash	02:13	Amazon
10	It Takes One to Know Me	Johnny Cash	03:16	Amazon
11	Movin’ Up Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash	03:24	Amazon
12	Truth Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash feat: Earl Poole Ball / Marshall Grant / W.S. Holland / Bob Wootton	02:17	Amazon