Johnny Cash / Willie Nelson – VH1 Storytellers ****

Won a $10 gift card at work for Wal-Mart for being MSR of the Week.

Went to Wal-Mart thinking of getting some journals and CDs or DVDs.

The journal selection at the Wal-Mart in Scarborough is frightfully awful.

And the CD and DVD selection has gone way, way down in our age of Amazon and iTunes.

Got a few things … Standard Wal-Mart stuff like a bunch of wet food seafood friskies for the kitties, and a huge bag of dry cat food. The awesome and fantastic Yardley Oatmeal and Almond Naturally Moisturizing Bath Bar soap. And the great value toilet paper as back-up. Fyi, don’t buy the Great Value toilet paper. Do buy the Target brand toilet paper, up and up in a terrible branding decision. Also a little chocolate milk, and the delicious cheddar cheese pretzel Combos.

Wal-Mart has incredibly bad merchandising. The journal section was trashed and missing all sorts of stuff. I am not sure this is just a problem with Wal-Mart in Scarborough, ME or a national issue.

I also finally found wallet windows too by the wallets, the plastic card holders for my credit/debit cards and stuff was incredibly trashed. But was really happy to find a DVD of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” for $3 and the album I am reviewing today “Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson VH1 Storytellers” for $5.

But I am really here to review the CD and not Wal-Mart. There is a reason I prefer to shop at Target for big box stores, well honestly I really like Target and buying local especially with the amazing restaurants in Portland, Maine. (Including my iTunes stars for the song).

1. Ghost Riders on the Sky – A song I really like. My favorite version is from “The New Riders of the Purple Sage” when I saw them play at a cool bar in Claremont, California. This one shows wonderfully the voices of experience of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. It’s clear Willie and Johnny are friends. ***

2. Worried Man — Again great gravitas in these two great men of country music and Americana. And great guitar playing. ***

3. Family Bible — These are Christian men, especially Johnny Cash, even though they are both Highwaymen. ***

4. Don’t Take Your Guns to Town — I adore Johnny Cash’s voice. Guns are part of the American story for a long, long time. One of those songs that sounds better the more you hear it. ****

5. Funny How Time Slips Away — Nice guitar playing, this is one of those records that just makes you happy to hear. ***

6. Flesh and Blood — If there is a singer I want to imitate it’s Johnny Cash. Have a good deep voice and no one tells a story better. ***

7. Crazy — This will always be a Patsy Cline song to me. Willie Nelson plays a nice lead on it. ***

8. Unchained — I like this version better than the one on the “Unchained” album. The richness of Johnny Cash’s voice really carries. ****

9. Night Life — Willie Nelson leads this one. Life on the road ain’t easy. ***

10. Drive On — Vietnam Veterans got a raw deal from the peace movement. A lot of them joined it. Vietnam did strange things to a lot of people. ***

11. Me and Paul — Willie Nelson leading, this an album that is making me appreciate Willie more. ***

12. I Still Miss Someone — Beautiful. I am so happy Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash came together and the American Recordings happened. ****

13. Always on My Mind — The original version of this song is pretty much destroyed by that awful ASPCA ad. This one brings it back to a Willie Nelson song. It is a wonderful song. Good stuff. ****

14. Folsom Prison Blues — One of Johnny Cash’s signatures songs, as it well should be. Cool to hear part of how this was written. Wanted to write a write like he was a criminal. What would be the evil reason to kill someone, just to watch them die. ****

15. On the Road Again — Definitely one of Willie’s signature song. ***

Really nice album, I highly recommend it, definitely exceeded my expectations. Great to hear Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash playing together and having fun.
****.