First Country Music Recording at Sun Records: Hey, Porter (Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two)
The Tennessee Two was the backing band for Johnny Cash The band started in the mid-1950s consisting of Johnny Cash (guitar/lead vocals), Cash's friends Luther Perkins on electric guitar and Marshall Grant on upright bass. Originally called the Tennessee Three, Sam Phillips of Sun Records suggested that the band be called Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. There was also a third member of the group, Red' Kernodle, who played steel guitar during the first audition.
In late 1954, when Cash got an audition with producer Sam Phillips (Memphis,Tennessee), he brought Perkins, Grant and Kernodle along to back him instrumentally. The experience made Kernodle nervous and he ended up leaving before the session was over, with Perkins and Grant providing the instrumentation. Initially, Cash presented himself as a gospel singer, but Phillips turned him down. Phillips asked him to come back with something more commercial. Cash returned with Hey Porter (1955), which immediately caught Phillips' attention.
Signed to Sun as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, their first chart single, Cry! Cry! Cry!, became a moderate country hit. Cry! Cry! Cry! And Hey Porter was the first country music single recorded at Sun Records (Sun 221, 1955). After the singles So Doggone Lonesome and Folsom Prison Blues, the band had their first major country hit with I Walk the Line in 1956. They appeared on the Louisiana Hayride in December 1955, becoming regulars, before graduating to the Grand Ole Opry in July 1956.
They subsequently achieved major country hits with Ballad of a Teenage Queen and Guess Things Happen That Way (1958). Their initial recording sessions produced the album, With His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun LP-1220 (1957) with Johnny Cash (vocal/guitar), Luther Perkins (lead guitar), Jack Clement (guitar) and Marshall Grant (bass). The band honed their trade playing every school house and cat house in Dixieland, travelling In Johnny's 1954Plymouthwith the nig doghouse bass strapped to the roof. Their sound rarely changed over the years, it just got tighter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Johnny Cash
Complete Sun Recordings (1955 ~1958)
- WideOpen Road
- Hey Porter
- Cry, Cry, Cry
- My Two Timin’ Woman
- Port of Lonely Hearts
- I Couldn’t Keep from Crying
- Trail toMexico
- Folsom Prison Blues
- So Doggone Lonesome
- Mean Eyed Cat
- Luther Played the Boogie
- Get Rhythm
- I Walk the Line
- Train of Love
- There You Go
- I Love You Because
- Goodbye Little Darlin’
- Straight A’s in Love
- You’re My Baby (Little Woolly Booger)
- My Treasure
- Next in Line
- Don’t Make Me Go
- Give My Love to Rose
- Home of the Blues
- Rock IslandLine
- Wreck of the Old 97
- Country Boy
- Doin’ My Time
- If the Good Lord’s Willing
- I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow
- I Was There When It Happened
- Remember Me (I’m the One Who Loves You)
- Belshazzar
- Big River
- Goodnight Irene
- Ballad of a Teenage
- Come in Stranger
- Guess Things Happen that Way
- Oh, Lonesome Me
- Leave That Junk Alone
- You’re the Nearest Thing to Heaven
- The Story of a Broken Heart
- Sugartime
- Born to Lose
- Always Alone
- You Tell Me
- Life Goes On
- You Win Again
- I Could Never Be Ashamed of You
- Hey, Good Lookin’
- I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)
- Cold, Cold Heart
- Blue Train
- Katy Too
- The Ways of a Woman in Love
- Fools Hall of Fame
- Thanks aLot
- It’s Just About Time
- I Forgot to Remember to Forget
- I Just Thought You’d Like to Know
- Down the Street to 301
Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell. Roots of Country Music. Jan., 15, 2011.
