Album Review: Johnny Cash – The Adventures of Johnny Cash

The Adventures of Johnny Cash is Johnny’s third studio album of the 80s, as well as third with new band The Great Eighties Eight. If you’re going to appreciate this one at all, you should be ready to enjoy a very laid-back, mellow album with thick layered instruments. The sound is a little more natural than previous producer Billy Sherrill’s approach, but is still pretty slick. If you can accept that, this is overall an enjoyable if unremarkable album. 

The songs are the result of work with producer Cowboy Jack Clement in February 1982, but stem back to December when they first recorded some of these songs for the made-for-television film The Pride of Jesse Hallam. That film tells the story of a man who moves from Kentucky to Chicago to get medical care for his daughter and faces his illiteracy along the way. Although this album has no direct connection with the film, the themes of moving on from simple ways looms large over the album. 

The album opens with a great upbeat number, Billy Joe Shaver’s Georgia on a Fast Train. It’s got that classic Marty Stuart chicken pickin’ electric sound that energizes what will otherwise be a fairly subdued affair. The chorus lyric, “I’ve got a good Christian raisin’, and an eighth-grade education” reminds of the adult literacy themes of Jesse Hallam. 

I’ve got a good Christian raisin’, and an eighth-grade education

Billy Joe Shaver

Elsewhere, the closest connection to the film is the inclusion of John Prine’s signature song Paradise, which was included in an acoustic arrangement in the film. It launches here, too, with Marty Stuart’s mandolin and despite not also including the dobro of the film version, is an excellent rendition of a perfect song. We’re also treated to another Prine song, the sensitive ballad Only Love. Johnny’s vocal is unusually delicate and suits the song really well. 

Following opener Georgia on a Fast Train, Cash draws on new bass player Joe Allen – Marshall Grant’s first replacement – who provides the upbeat opener John’s which Cash ties into his childhood in Arkansas. It’s the tale of an old rural gas station. Cash and Allen collaborated on Fair Weather Friends, a ballad loaded with strings and 80s electric piano that manages to transcend its dated arrangement.  

From there, though, the album starts to move into awkward territory. We Must Believe in Magic was a platinum LP for Crystal Gayle in 1977. The title track weaves together American destiny and cosmic spirituality into a heady mix that taps into the zeitgeist of the late 70s. In Cash’s hands, its simply not a good fit. His vocal delivery doesn’t convince like Gayle’s, and it’s made worse by the ethereal “magic” background vocals. 

Much of the second side fumbles along through ok, but unconvincing numbers. Johnny’s take on Merle Haggard’s 1981 dream of riding the rails in Good Old American Guest has nothing on the original. And while I’m happy to get a shout-out to Canadian province Nova Scotia on Ain’t Gonna Hobo No More, do we really need two rail-ridin’ songs on here? These are also both rose-coloured views on homelessness that are a stark contrast to the brutal view of addiction presented in The Baron’s Ceiling, Four Walls and a Floor. 

That just leaves us with two songs. A gospel tune in I’ll Cross Over Jordan which is nice, but doesn’t match similar past numbers like Far Side Banks of Jordan. And then there’s Sing a Song, written by an obscure Nashville artist – Tommy Cisco – who appears to have only had a couple of singles in 1978. That said, the message of this song might give the most honest window into Cash’s true state at the time: 

Sing a song try not to think, Act like it don’t hurt, Sing a song to cover up your cry 

Make them laugh, let them dance, You’ll know you will make it, But they don’t know how hard you have to try 

Sing a Song

Yes, for all the optimism on this album, I’m guessing Johnny was creating a façade that hid the real struggles he was going through. As I’ve discussed on other reviews from this era, he was facing addiction issues again as well as challenges in his marriag (note – another album without a June duet!). But with this album, the recording sessions seem to be pulled in many directions: 

• Sept 1980 – Recording the Baron single with Billy Sherrill. 
• Dec 1980 – Initial sessions with Jack Clement for Pride of Jesse Hallam including John Prine’s Paradise 
• Jan-Feb 1981 – More sessions with Jack Clement including initial takes of songs that would later appear on Adventures. Some of this material has been released on various compilations as discussed in my review of The Baron. (Plus a few other things like recording the Ray Charles duet with Billy Sherrill, an unreleased two-song session with Don Davis, and appearing on The Muppet Show). 
• March 1981 – Back in the studio with Billy Sherrill recording the Baron album. 
• April 1981 – A few sessions for Marty Stuart’s solo album, and then a European tour (resulting in The Survivors LP). 
• Feb 1982 – Back in the studio with Jack Clement 

We haven’t seen a pattern like this since 1967, when Johnny was starting one album/single, moving to another, then back and forth. What’s common to that period and 1981-1982 is that Cash as deep into addiction issues. And while he’s capable of producing good music even when in poor health, he seems to lose focus in the periods, resulting in mediocre albums like Happiness is You and Adventures. 

Overall, I regard this album as a disappointment. Johnny had been trying to work with Clement as early as 1974, yet such sessions seemed to get thrown out the window. Their work was often gospel songs and their old favourites, paralleling sessions with a hot producer like John R. Cash’s Gary Klein. I can’t help but think that this is a sign that Cash was doing what he wanted to do with Clement, while doing what the label wanted elsewhere. Klein… Ahern… Sherrill… Johnny’s career was becoming a string of failed attempts at contemporary hits.  

What’s most disappointing about finally getting a Clement album is that whereas what we have of cut sessions are natural sounding acoustic-driven works, when we finally get an album it leans toward a slick modern sound. And while I enjoy Earl’s piano, and the guitar leads of Jerry Hensley (and once in a while Marty Stuart), I can’t help but wish the final product sounded more like the Dec. 1980 sessions used in the Jesse Hallam film. 

3/5 

Other Songs from the Era: 

• The Pride of Jesse Hallam – the made-for-TV movie starring Cash has tracks from the original sessions which sound more in line with what you’d expect from Cash and Clement. There’s a wonderful bluegrass-influenced arrangement of Paradise on here.  
• Get In Line Brother – Another bluegrass tune for Marty Stuart’s Busy Bee Café record. 
• A Fast Song – A fun acoustic demo released on Personal File. 
• Ben Dewberry’s Final Run – An outtake released on Life Unheard