Reddit mentions of Johnny Cash - Love, God, Murder

One of the things I think makes Cash so awesome is that his emotions are completely on the surface when he sings. You can tell when he's singing with someone he admires and likes (in the case of Bob Dylan) or loves (in the case of June Carter Cash). I think what I was trying to say is that he doesn't sing any differently - inflection, timing, level of improvisation - when singing with someone else than they do solo. If Johnny did two takes of the same song back-to-back, one with June and one solo, and you played just his parts I don't think you'd hear a significant difference. It's not like Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire, the legendary Bing & David Bowie version of 'Little Drummer Boy', Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong or anything by Simon & Garfunkel, Hall & Oates, Crosby Stills & Nash, Peter Paul & Mary or any of the great harmony groups. It's also why I think the best-selling Frank Sinatra 'Duets' sets were artistic failures even if they were commercial blockbusters. Frank refused to be in the studio with any of the artists (except maybe one or two), recorded all of his parts, which were then sent to the other artists to sing along to, and it shows.

Those are both awesome songs, BTW. I'm not sure I'd ever heard 'Daddy Sang Bass' actually. Great interpolation of different sources and genre-switching, which was another real strength of Cash's. There's a fantastic three-disc set that Columbia put out a while back called Love, God, Murder that really showcases three of Johnny's primary musical facets.

I don't know if you're familiar with Nick Cave, but if you want to hear the closest thing we have to Cash currently, he would be it, and is an amazing artist in his own right. Phenomenal songwriter and interpreter of others' material and a great emotive singer with a range of subject matter equaling Cash (Cave's 'Murder Ballads' CD and the next two CDs he put out, 'The Boatman's Call' and 'No More Shall We Part', really show this to great effect).