Much like the train Johnny Cash so often sang about, the celebration of what would have been his 80^th birthday year rolls on.  Following the issue of Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth earlier this year, Legacy Recordings has just announced the CD/DVD and Blu-ray releases of We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash.  Due on August 7, these preserve the concert held on Friday, April 20, 2012 at Austin, Texas’ Moody Theater in which a wide-ranging roster of musicians paid homage to the music of The Man in Black.

Don Was served as the event’s musical director, and brought along a number of his famous friends to celebrate their friend Johnny.  Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams and Shelby Lynne all were among the headliners, while Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson fit the bill as the evening’s requisite legends.  Younger talents like The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Pat Monahan of Train, and Amy Lee of Evanescence all paid their respects via new interpretations of Cash standards.  Was’ band included many distinguished musicians in their own right: Buddy Miller, Kenny Aronoff, Greg Leisz and The Faces’ Ian McLagan.  Of the evening’s star-studded “I Walk the Line” finale, Rolling Stone wrote, “It was a scene so loaded with talent that an A-list artist like Crow was left singing backup vocals off-mike and clapping while her peers led the crowd in a sing-along.”

In addition to solo songs, many performers seized the opportunity for duets.  Shelby Lynne and Pat Monahan stepped in for June and Johnny on Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”  Jamey Johnson joined Kris Kristofferson for Kristofferson’s own “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and Lynne traded off with Willie Nelson on Tim Hardin’s folk standard “If I Were a Carpenter.”  Nelson and Kristofferson reunited on Jimmy Webb’s “Highwayman,” enlisting Johnson and Shooter Jennings as new Highwaymen for the song.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops enlivened another favorite duet between June and Johnny, “Jackson.”

Hit the jump for details on the CD/DVD and Blu-Ray editions, plus news of four new Cash compilations and pre-order links for all titles!

The festivities are captured on two new releases.  A CD/DVD edition offers the same 19-track program in both formats (albeit in a different sequence).  The DVD’s bonus features include “I Still Miss Someone” in Willie Nelson’s rehearsal performance, “The Man Comes Around” performed by actor and Texas native Matthew McConaughey, a section of artist interviews and archival footage of Cash, and the behind-the-scenes program, Walking the Line: the Making of a Celebration.  A separate Blu-ray release includes all of the features found on the DVD.  Should you wish to sample the show first, a broadcast television version premieres nationally on Friday, August 10 on PBS.

One week prior to the release of We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash, Legacy Recordings will also offer four titles in the label’s new Johnny Cash – The Greatest series.  This series of compilation spotlights Country Classics, Gospel Songs, Duets, and The Number Ones.  We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash arrives from Legacy on August 14, and you can pre-order at the links below!

Various Artists, We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash (Legacy Recordings, 2012 – CD/DVD Edition, Blu-ray Edition)

DVD/Blu-ray Tracks:

1. Folsom Prison Blues – performed by Brandi Carlile
2. Get Rhythm – performed by Andy Grammer
3. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – performed by Amy Lee
4. Hey Porter – performed by Buddy Miller
5. Why Me Lord – performed by Shelby Lynne
6. Help Me Make It Through the Night – performed by Pat Monahan
7. It Ain’t Me Babe – performed by Shelby Lynne and Pat Monahan
8. Sunday Morning Coming Down – performed by Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson
9. Jackson – performed by Carolina Chocolate Drops
10. Wreck Of The Old 97 – performed by Rhett Miller
11. Ring Of Fire – performed by Ronnie Dunn
12. Cocaine Blues – performed by Shooter Jennings
13. Hurt – performed by Lucinda Williams
14. The Long Black Veil – performed by Iron & Wine
15. Big River – performed by Kris Kristofferson
16. Cry, Cry, Cry – performed by Sheryl Crow
17. If I Were A Carpenter – performed by Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow
18. Highwayman – performed by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson
19. I Walk The Line – performed by Full Ensemble

CD Tracks:

1. Folsom Prison Blues – performed by Brandi Carlile
2. Ring Of Fire – performed by Ronnie Dunn
3. Hey Porter – performed by Buddy Miller
4. Hurt – performed by Lucinda Williams
5. Wreck Of The Old 97 – performed by Rhett Miller
6. Jackson – performed by Carolina Chocolate Drops
7. The Long Black Veil – performed by Iron & Wine
8. Big River – performed by Kris Kristofferson
9. Why Me Lord – performed by Shelby Lynne
10. Help Me Make It Through the Night – performed by Pat Monahan
11. It Ain’t Me Babe – performed by Shelby Lynne and Pat Monahan
12. Sunday Morning Coming Down – performed by Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson
13. Get Rhythm – performed by Andy Grammer
14. Cocaine Blues – performed by Shooter Jennings
15. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – performed by Amy Lee
16. Cry, Cry, Cry – performed by Sheryl Crow
17. I Still Miss Someone – rehearsal performance by Willie Nelson
18. If I Were A Carpenter – performed by Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow
19. Highwayman – performed by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson
20. I Walk The Line – performed by Full Ensemble