Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson
VH1 Storytellers
[American]
Rating: 8.0
As any decent human being will tell you, it was a little indecent of MTV to
capitalize on Kurt Cobain's death with the release of Nirvana's MTV
Unplugged In New York. But perhaps equally as irritating were their
decisions to put out shoddy Unplugged performances by Arrested
Development, Kiss and Alice In Chains. The fact of the matter is, these
performances are oftentimes better left in the vault.
VH1, which is owned by MTV, has their own version of "Unplugged"-- it's
called "Storytellers." The difference is, the artists talk more between
songs. Needless to say, they're issuing discs in the "Storytellers"
series as well. Now, as much as I hate to encourage these corporate
schmucks, occasionally they issue something nobody can complaint about.
In this case, it's Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson's "Storytellers"
performance.
First off, these two oldsters have been friends longer than I've been
alive, so their stage presence is terrific. Over 50+ minutes, they
strum through 15 of their classic country songs including "(Ghost) Riders
In The Sky," "Funny How Time Slips Away," "I Still Miss Someone,"
"Always On My Mind," and "On The Road Again." Every once in a while,
Johnny forgets a lyric ("Drive On") or Willie gets a little too fancy
with his guitar pickin' ("Crazy"), but they never fail to keep the
audience entertained.
Cash seems more concerned with the storytelling end of the gig, and we
get all sorts of inside info on the inspirations behind songs like "Worried
Man," "Flesh and Blood" and "Folsom Prison Blues." Willie, on the other
hand, rarely expresses interest in talking about his songs, probably
because his stories would all undoubtedly begin, "Well, I was smokin'
a bowl when it hit me."
Throughout Storytellers Cash and Nelson show their admiration
for one another's music and talent, which makes the performance that
much more enjoyable. And even without visual accompaniment, it's
obvious that despite their years, Cash and Nelson are still charming,
easy-going, and completely on top of their game.
-Ryan Schreiber