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Rockabilly Blues

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Rockabilly Blues

| type = Album

| artist = Johnny Cash

| cover = JohnnyCashRockabillyBlues.jpg

| alt =

| released = September 22, 1980

| recorded =

| studio = Quadrafonic Sound (Nashville, Tennessee)

| genre =

| length = 32:48

| language = English

| label = Columbia

| producer = {{flatlist|

| chronology = Johnny Cash

| prev_title = A Believer Sings the Truth

| prev_year = 1979

| next_title = Classic Christmas

| next_year = 1980

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Rockabilly Blues

| type = studio

| single1 = Cold Lonesome Morning

| single1date = August 1980

| single2 = The Last Time

| single2date = November 1980

| single3 = Without Love

| single3date = January 1981

}}

}}

Rockabilly Blues is an album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1980. Highlights include "Cold Lonesome Morning," which had some minor chart success (No. 53 in the country charts), "Without Love," by his son-in-law, Nick Lowe, and a cover of the witty "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over." The first two of the aforementioned songs were the only singles from the album, though "Without Love" hardly enjoyed any chart success, peaking at No. 78. "The Twentieth Century is Almost Over" was re-recorded five years later by Cash and Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, collectively known as The Highwaymen, on their first album entitled Highwayman, though it was, in essence, a duet with Nelson.

Critical reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |title=Rockabilly Blues Review by Michael McCall |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rockabilly-blues-mw0000047640 |website=AllMusic |access-date=20 November 2023}}

| rev2 = Billboard

| rev2Score = (unrated){{cite magazine|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1980/BB-1980-10-04.pdf|title=Review: Johnny Cash – Rockabilly Blues|magazine=Billboard|date=4 October 1980|access-date=30 May 2020|volume=85|number=40|page=110|via=American Radio History|issn=0006-2510}}

| rev3 = Robert Christgau

| rev3Score = B−{{cite web |title=Johnny Cash |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=johnny+cash |website=Robert Christgau |access-date=20 November 2023}}

}}

Robert Christgau deemed Rockabilly Blues "an honorable country album with some pretty good songs on it." The Globe and Mail concluded that the album "has more to do with traditional country music than it does hot country-rock."{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Paul |title=Rockabilly Blues Johnny Cash |work=The Globe and Mail |date=15 Nov 1980 |page=F6}} The Boston Globe opined that "best of all is Cash's long awaited discovery of John Prine ('The 20th Century Is Almost Over')."{{cite news |last1=Flanagan |first1=Bill |title=Rockabilly Blues |work=The Boston Globe |date=21 Jan 1981 |department=News |page=1}}

Track listing

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title1 = Cold Lonesome Morning

| writer1 = J.R. Cash

| extra1= Earl Poole Ball

| length1 = 3:21

| title2 = Without Love

| writer2 = Nick Lowe

| extra2= Nick Lowe

| length2 = 2:26

| title3 = W-O-M-A-N

| writer3 = J.R. Cash

| extra3= Earl Poole Ball

| length3 = 3:21

| title4 = The Cowboy Who Started the Fight

| writer4 = Billy Joe Shaver

| extra4= Earl Poole Ball

| length4 = 3:46

| title5 = The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over

| writer5 = Steve Goodman, John Prine

| extra5= Earl Poole Ball

| length5 = 3:38

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title6 = Rockabilly Blues (Texas 1955)

| writer6 = J.R. Cash

| extra6= Earl Poole Ball

| length6 = 3:18

| title7 = The Last Time

| writer7 = Kris Kristofferson

| extra7=Earl Poole Ball

| length7 = 3:12

| title8 = She's a Go-er

| writer8 = J.R. Cash

| extra8= Earl Poole Ball

| length8 = 2:28

| title9 = It Ain't Nothing New Babe

| writer9 = Billy Joe Shaver

| extra9= Jack Clement

| length9 = 4:02

| title10 = One Way Rider

| note10= with June Carter Cash

| writer10 = Rodney Crowell

| extra10= Jack Clement

| length10 = 3:16

}}

Personnel

=Production=

  • Album produced by Earl Poole Ball
  • "Without Love" produced by Nick Lowe
  • "It Ain't Nothing New Babe" and "One Way Rider" produced by Jack Clement
  • Engineers: Gene Eichelberger at Quadrafonic Studio, Nashville, TN; Curt Allen at JMI Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; Dave Edmunds at U.K. Pro Studio, London, England
  • Back-up Engineers: Willie Pevear, Barbara Cline at Quadraphonic Studio, Nashville TN
  • Recorded at Quadraphonic Studio, JMI Recording Studio, U.K. Pro Studio
  • Front Cover Photography: Leonard Kamsler
  • Reissue Producer: Dave Nives
  • Project Coordinator: Kajetan Koci
  • Reissue Designer: Suzanne Ammon

Chart performance

=Album=

class="wikitable"

! Chart (1980)

! Peak
position

Canadian RPM Country Albums

| align="center"| 23

=Singles=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="2"| Peak positions

style="font-size:smaller;"

! width="50"| US Country

! width="50"| CAN Country

rowspan="2"| 1980

| align="left"| "Cold Lonesome Morning"

| 53

| 74

align="left"| "The Last Time"

| 85

| —

1981

| align="left"| "Without Love"

| 78

| 68

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/c/Cash/cash_rockabillyblues.htm Luma Electronic entry on Rockabilly Blues]

{{Johnny Cash}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Johnny Cash albums

Category:1980 albums

Category:Columbia Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Nick Lowe

Category:Albums produced by Jack Clement