Johnny Cash Tribute – Review by Lori Lee Cash

I’ve declared September Johnny Cash month here at the Robot Ranch. His sparse but infectious songs are echoing through the stereo speakers every day. His early songs never seem to date, even though they stretch back over 50 years. There sure is something special about The Tennessee Two’s boom-chicka-boom rhythm and Cash’s commanding voice.

Johnny Cash passed away on September 12, 2003, four months after the passing of his wife and savior June Carter Cash. For the past five years I’ve hosted tribute nights on the anniversary of his passing and this year the tradition continued when a dozen Brisbane identities gathered to celebrate and sing the music of the Man in Black.

The popularity of the Cash Tribute outgrew its previous setting at the Troubadour and it was moved to the Deck Bar at the Jubilee Hotel, just near the Ekka. The Jube’s newly laid timber floor and expansive outdoor area made good room for dancing, drinking or hanging out and digging.

This definitely wasn’t a gig where you could just plug in and play to the punters. The tribute took weeks of planning, improving on previous years tributes by developing a new show concept, forming the Mean Eyed Cats super group and synchronising a song list of some thirty Johnny Cash tunes amongst the guest singers.

At the start of the night and throughout the breaks DJ Lori Lee had the Cash tunes flowing with a choice of cuts and covers from Johnny’s 50 year career.

The Mean Eyed Cats (Dangerous Dan Nosovich on guitar, Paulie Burke on bass and Coojee Timms on skins) opened the live show with Luther Played the Boogie, Home of the Blues and picked up the tempo for The Rock Island Line and Coojee’s rendition of Cocaine Blues.

The first guest vocalist joining the Cats was Duke Wilde who sang Understand Your Man and Sunday Morning Coming Down, plus a rippin’ rock’n’roll version of Five Feet High And Rising. Yeehah.

Pete Martini got the audience stompin’ and chanting for God's Gonna Cut You Down, and finished off with Mean Eyed Cat and A Boy Named Sue.

Miss Teresa was up next and performed a sweet version of Big River, followed by a duet with Dangerous Dan on Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man and the audience favourite, Jackson.

After a short break, Andy Dashwood played a solo bracket with the western classics Don't Take Your Guns To Town, Ghost Riders In The Sky, plus Solitary Man and one of many sing-alongs tunes tonight, Ring Of Fire.

The Mean Eyed Cats took to the stage for round two. Charlie Bob Nelson sung it low for Cry Cry Cry and Old Kentucky Home, but when he sang I Walk The Line the audience went kinda nuts and it was hard for him to leave the stage.

Warren Earl was quick on stage to keep the train rollin’ with Get Rhythm, Train of Love and Wreck of the Ol’ 97 plus the rockabilly bopper Rock’n’Roll Ruby, which had the dancers high steppin’.

Doug Wilshire followed with One Piece at a Time and Hey Porter, plus a version of Highwayman that paid homage to Cash, Jennings, Nelson & Kristofferson and finished with an extreme version of Rusty Cage.

Up next was ‘Gentle’ Ben Corbett who strut the stage like a caged beast throughout I Got Stripes and It Ain't Me, Babe, the heart aching and intense versions of I Still Miss Someone and the killer, I See a Darkness.

All the while, the Mean Eyed Cats - Dangerous Dan Nosovich, Paulie Burke and Coojee Timms - were backing the performers and playing all the tunes like champions. The Cats looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience was with smiles all ‘round. 

To wrap up the night I jumped onstage and invited the entire cast of singers back up for one more song. You don’t normally see me singing in public, but tonight I couldn’t help myself, so I joined Teresa, Charlie Bob, Pete, Ben, Warren and the Cats performing Folsom Prison Blues. What a great way to finish a show, I reckon we should do this at every gig!

This year’s tribute was something very special and the concept will be continued in future years. Each year the anniversary of JC’s passing has coincided with the Valley Fiesta, which is proving to be not such a good thing. As well as the already busy Valley district being invaded by thousands of new punters, the Fiesta ties up many local musicians, as well as services such as taxis and buses. Coupled with that is the music conference Big Sound is on at the same time as Fiesta, so it makes for one hell of a busy week for people in the industry.

These factors are driving me to move the Tribute date away from JC’s anniversary date, which messes a bit with tradition, but won’t affect the focus of the show, which is all about JC’s music. I’ll keep you posted on the new date for 2009 as time progresses. In the meantime, you can check a couple of videos I captured on the night (above).

Long live Johnny Cash.
 

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