Low and Slow

I have been stringing BMG Music Service along for over two years. My latest foray into the world of the record/cassette/CD music club came when I tried to get a free iPod Mini--all I had to do was fulfill the commitments of something like 83 credit card, music club, magazine subscription, diet pill, and the like offers. BMG was #3 or 4. The advantage of BMG over Columbia House is that they actually let you out of the arrangement without too much damage. All you have to buy is one more regularly priced album over two years, and you walk away with your 9 free CDs (all you pay is the exorbitant S&H charge for each "free" CD). Anyway, I don't think I had made my one purchase--or maybe I did last year--when my monthly offer came in the e-mail: The Legend of Johnny Cash, volumes 1&2.


Now, I grew up in Pop's household, so I am familiar with country music and the artists of the 70s, but I am no great fan. At least I wasn't until Miss Saccharine and I moved from Utah to West Virginia right at the beginning of the latest nationwide resurgence of country music popularity. Then, because MS started listening to it all the time, I started to get into it. Although I still have never been a great fan, I can at least appreciate good country music. I elected not to pass up this monthly selection, largely on the basis of reviews I've read since Johnny's death.


With that background, you would think that I knew something about Johnny Cash. I knew the name of some of his songs (Boy Named Sue, Ring of Fire, and The Ballad of Ira Hayes to name three) and could put a name to his face (and vice versa). However, I couldn't identify a Cash song by the pickup alone--once the singing started, that was another story. Well, my two CDs arrived in the mail the weekend before the trip to Idlewild, and I have listened to no other music since (except for the CDs my boys have picked out during the Pennsyltucky trip). They are fantastic!


I pose a question at this point. Is there another Johnny Cash album I need to experience? I plan on getting My Mother's Hymn Book before too much longer--any other suggestions?