Walk the Line, Vol. 1

iTunes Review

Though it’s not an official soundtrack to the film, Walk the Line surfaced shortly following the 2005 biopic. Part of a two-disc series that highlights Johnny Cash’s tenure on Sun Recordings, Vol. 1 boasts an impressive 28 songs that include just a handful of early hits — a welcome refresher when you consider that most Johnny Cash compilations focus on the familiar chart toppers that the casual fan has heard over and over again. This series is an excellent way to get familiar with the cream of Cash’s early album tracks. Opening with the title track seems almost mandatory, as does following it up with the similarly twangy “Folsom Prison Blues,” but things get a little more intriguing when you hear Cash give his outlaw touch to Charlie Phillips and Odis Echols’ “Sugartime” (which the McGuire Sisters had a hit with in 1957). Fans of the aforementioned biopic will be pleased to find “Home of the Blues” here. Detailing the unhappy childhood of Cash, it was co-written with Douglas L. McAlphin and Glenn Douglas Tubb, which may be why Cash’s trademark twang sounds interestingly tampered with.