A never-before-heard recording of a Johnny Cash concert has been unearthed.
The performance took place on April 24, 1968, at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco. There were no photos taken of the event, and there were even questions about why Johnny Cash would play such an intimate venue at that point in his career. However, those details make the recording even more special.
1968 was a total turning point year in Johnny's life and career. The year before this incredible recording took place, Johnny was suffering hard from his drug addiction and even attempted suicide. But he turned it all around in 1968, kicking his drug habit and recording a live album at Folsom Prison.
He also married longtime love June Carter that year on March 1.
"That's one of the most creative years of his life," John Carter Cash, the only child of Johnny and June, said. The creativity may have inspired Johnny to take the offbeat gig in the first place.
John also says there is something truly special about the recording. "I knew there was something specifically different about this show," he said.
That something special had to do with one person — the legendary sound man Owsley Stanley, commonly called "Bear." Bear was known for being the Grateful Dead's first sound man, as well as being the most "raved" about LSD chemist of the time.
Bear developed cutting-edge techniques that were inspired by LSD use. He wanted to capture the unique sound of a room, and he succeeded more than anyone ever had before.
"Owsley's style of recording set the standard for years and years to come," John Carter Cash said.
The fact that Johnny Cash crossed paths with the iconic sound engineer all those years ago and we're just now hearing the product of that meeting is nothing short of astounding.
Bear called the tapes he recorded, like this newly unearthed Johnny Cash concert, his Sonic Journals. He meticulously studied them so he could perfect his techniques.
"I believe it's probably just as close to what it really would've been like if you were in the room that night," John Carter Cash said of listening to his father's voice on that newly discovered audio.
