PopSyndicate.com

If there was one good thing about television in the 1970s and 1980s, it was that music was celebrated in a more honest, if cheesy, fashion than now with pre-taped concerts airing during sweeps. The closest that we’ve come these days was Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson’s Family Christmas in 2004, but that project was an aberration. In 1976 and 1977, Johnny Cash pulled together two very different Christmas specials featuring a variety of country acts. The magnetic Cash was a natural fit for a television special, having had his own TV show at one point, as well as various TV documentaries and specials.

When you see that Tony Orlando and his mustache are the first guests in the ‘76 show, you know that schmaltz is about to be layed on with a shovel. Orlando, who had his own show that ended the same month this special aired, doesn’t disappoint, playing as a city boy out in the country at Johnny’s supposed house. June Carter Cash pops her head out next and, with the cheapest special effect ever of a yellow ribbon appearing on a tree and a few slushy jokes, the three launch into “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.” Roy Clark wanders up randomly and Orlando, Cash and Clark do a round of Stephen Foster songs where Orlando subtracts quality that the other two add. He just doesn’t fit. Luckily Orlando disappears for the second half when the show moves inside, where a whole mess of people are waiting creepily with instruments. Cash gives way to other performers at this point, letting the Carter Family, Barbara Mandrell, picker Merle Travis and the rarely seen Tommy Cash take over. Finally Billy Graham steps in to inject some Christmas in the Christmas special with a story about Jesus.

The 1977 is the better and more Christmasy of the two. Wisely Cash opted to move this show out of the fake house and into a concert hall with a live audience. A healthy dose of ham is served, but it never reaches 1976 levels with only one barely scripted bit involving an unfortunately subdued Statler Brothers and Johnny teaming up for a lively cover of Rosemary Clooney’s “This Ole House.” Roy Clark comes back for three Christmas songs before hightailing it to make way for the underappreciated Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis, who all do one of their own songs before teaming up for the rest of the show with Cash and the Carter Family.

Thankfully companies like Shout Factory are around to save these shows for posterity. You can’t expect much in the way of special features with the restorations I suppose, but a bonus CD with the individual songs would be nice; there are a few songs from the ‘77 special I’d like to listen to on my iPod.

However much I complain about Orlando and the scripted bits, there’s something affable about it all with reminders of a more innocent time that we rarely see on TV anymore unfortunately. After Hee-Haw died, we slowly turned to preferring dark cop dramas and bringing people down. Some days, I’d rather go back go Kornfield Kounty.

3