1955
Cry, Cry, Cry (Johnny Cash) was the flip side of Johnny Cash’s 1955 debut release. Side A was Hey Porter. Although Hey Porter failed to hit the charts, Cry, Cry, Cry reached #6 on Billboard’s country chart.
By the time Sun Records released Cash’s debut album, Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957), he had already had several hit songs. Four of them appeared on the record: So Doggone Lonesome, I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues, and his first hit Cry, Cry, Cry.
(below) A very brief performance on the 1961 TV showcase Star Route USA, preceded by Cash introducing the band members
1956
I Walk the Line
(from wikipedia) – The song is very simple and like most Cash songs, the lyrics tell more of a story than the music conveys. (You’ve got a way to keep me on your side/You give me cause for love that I can’t hide/For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide).
I Walk the Line is based upon the “boom-chicka-boom” or “freight train” rhythm common in many of Cash’s songs. In the original recording of the song, there is a key change between each of the five verses, and Cash hums the new root note before singing each verse. The final verse, a reprise of the first, is sung a full octave lower than the first verse. According to Cash, he loved the sound of a snare drum, but drums were not used on country music back then, so he placed a piece of paper in his guitar strings and created his own unique “snare drum”. From that point onwards, at many concerts, Cash would tell the story and perform the song the same way.
The unique chord progression for the song was inspired by an accidental backwards playback on Cash’s tape recorder while he was in the Air Force. Later, he wrote the lyrics in a backstage dressing room in Gladewater, Texas in 1955, after a discussion with fellow performer Carl Perkins encouraged him to adopt “I Walk the Line” as the song title. Cash originally intended the song as a slow ballad, but producer Sam Phillips preferred a faster arrangement, which Cash grew to like as the uptempo recording met with success.
a. Performed on television show Tex Ritter’s Ranch Party with the Tennessee Two which consists of Luther Perkins on lead guitar and Marshall Grant, upright bass, 1956.
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b. 1964
So Doggone Lonesome (Cash)- Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two on Ranch Party show around 1957
Get Rhythm (Cash) This one is also from Ranch Party c. 1957, accompanied by the Tennessee Two. It appears to be from the same show as So Doggone Lonesome, immediately above.
Folsom Prison Blues - by Johnny Cash (credited) and Gerdon Jenkins (uncredited)
Cash was inspired to write this song after seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) while serving in West Germany in the United States Air Force. Cash recounted how he came up with the “Reno” line: “I sat with my pen in my hand, trying to think up the worst reason a person could have for killing another person, and that’s what came to mind.”[1]
Another source for the song was Gordon Jenkins‘s 1953 Seven Dreams concept album, specifically the song Crescent City Blues[2]. Cash used the same melody, and borrowed many of the lyrics without crediting or getting permission from Jenkins when he recorded the song, now entitled with his trio in 1955 for the Sun Records label. Jenkins later filed an infringement lawsuit and received a settlement after Cash’s 1968 live recording achieved widespread success.
Town Hall Party, Los Angeles, California August 8, 1959
1957
Home of the Blues – on Country Style USA in 1957
1958
Big River (Cash)
1. Star Route USA, 1961
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2. Grand Ole Opry, 1962
Cash departed Sun Records in 1958 to sign a contract with Columbia where he continued to write and record hits. His first hit for Columbia, one of his best-selling songs, was Don’t Take Your Guns to Town.
1959
Don’t Take Your Guns to Town (Cash) – #1 country single, Billboard
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Five Feet High and Rising (Cash)
Star Route USA, 1961
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I Got Stripes — #4 on Billboard’s country singles chart
Star Route USA, 1961 — second song in this video is Five Feet High and Rising
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The link below will play the album Johnny Cash, his Sun Years: Down South- CD 1 (of 3) at Rhapsody.com, if you’ve got an account. A free trial is available. However, access to this service may not be available outside the US. The track list follows the photos.
Play Here: 
His Sun Years: Down South – CD1 by Johnny Cash
Track list for His Sun Years: Down South
Track list for His Sun Years: Down South
1. Two Timin’ Woman – 1:57
2. Folsom Prison Blues – 2:48
3. Luther Played The Boogie -2:04
4. Mean Eyed Cat – 2:29
5. Big River – 2:32
6. Blue Train -2:02
7. Fools Hall Of Fame -2:23
8. Wide Open Road -2:24
9. Cry! Cry! Cry! -2:26
10. Hey! Porter -2:13
11. Get Rhythm -2:14
12. I Love You Because -2:24
13. I Forgot To Remember To Forget -1:52
14. Train Of Love -2:23
15. Goodnight Irene -2:40
16. Doin’ My Time -2:36
17. Rock Island Line -2:09
18. The Wreck Of The Old ’97 -1:47
19. Belshazzar -2:24
20. I Was There When It Happened-2:13
It’s Pickin’ Time — live with Tennessee Ernie Ford
