If I'm not mistaken, Johnny Cash is the only artist to be in the Country Music AND Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's not the official accolades that matter though. His music, his voice, and his lyrics can hit you in the gut or the heart. This is an excellent selection of songs. Hear the nuance in his voice. Listen to the stories he tells. What an awesome and sensitive human being !

With a career spanning over forty years (or, with respect to the era of this box, over 25 years), how can you condense Johnny Cash's musical and spiritual legacy enough to fit it on three compact discs? Well, you can't. But if you were going to TRY, you could do no better than THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY CASH 1955-1983. If you have never listened, really listened, to Johnny Cash before, what album(s) should I buy to start? Until this box, this was an unanswerable question. The "greatest hit" type releases had too many holes. Although Mr. Cash has had many standard releases that are, at least to a Cash fan like me, indispensable parts of one's record collection, they are like snapshots of a moment in his spiritual and artistic development; this is the photo ALBUM. I discovered most of Johnny Cash's music retroactively, so, perhaps, I see more importance in this type of collection than someone who is in their sixties and has followed Mr. Cash since his Sun days. Still, this is just no punches pulled, no holds barred Johnny Cash at his best. After listening to this box, one realizes that there are many country artists, many rockabilly artists, many folk artists...and only one Johnny Cash.