Fans of Johnny Cash were no doubt saddened to learn of his death on Sept. 12 at 71. But recall Hank Williams. He lived to only 29, yet even 50 years after his death previously unreleased recordings still surface every few years or so.

Imagine the amount of Cash music to come. Until now, though, Cash's earliest live recordings came via 1968's "Live at Folsom Prison." Thanks to some diligent archivists, we now have live music of Cash and the Tennessee Two (and Three) on "Live Recordings from the Louisiana Hayride."

Cash emerges like a long black freight train rumbling through the night, even though the sound wavers from muddy to muddier. No matter. It's as if listeners are given a seat in front of the radio: We can hear him as he sounded over the airwaves of KWKH in Shreveport, La., nearly a half-century ago.

For example, any fan worth a nickel needs to hear Cash's absolutely electrifying version of "Hey Porter," which was his debut on the Hayride on Nov. 13, 1955. His album carries through to June 15, 1963, and "Busted."

Cash's playful ribbing of bassist Marshall Grant and especially guitarist Luther Perkins fills the gaps between white-hot performances of classics including "Folsom Prison Blues."

Then there is a priceless treat.

"Friends, we'd like to do one side of our latest release on Sun," Cash tells the Hayride crowd. "This is the one we're the proudest of. We hope you like it tonight."

Within a month the song, "I Walk the Line," became Cash's first No. 1 song. Yet on this and other live renditions, the music of Cash, Perkins and Grant reverberates with energy even more electric than their Sun Records studio releases.

From a downright radioactive "Rock Island Line" (which blows its studio version right off the tracks) to a fast-paced "Five Feet High and Rising," Cash & Co.'s boundless charisma comes right at you.

Even after all these years, there's simply no way to miss their aim.

Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two were - and remain - the greatest country act since Hank Williams.

Johnny Cash was a rising country act when he made his debut at the Louisiana Hayride in late 1955. His first record, "Cry! Cry! Cry!" backed by "Hey Porter," had been released by Sun Records in Memphis a few months before. Cash continued playing the Hayride radio broadcast and show, based at Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium, well into the '60s. Recordings from those performances are raw, immediate and exciting. Cash is in his youthful prime, singing songs in that rumbling baritone of his that would become signature tunes. Besides singing, the tapes capture Cash, a singer known later as the solemn man in black, hawking Southern Maid Doughnuts and cracking jokes about his unhappy hitch in the U.S. Air Force.

A companion Hayride disc stars June Carter, Cash's future wife, singing but mostly clowning. Carter's a feature attraction here, apart from the famous Carter Family, which she'd sung with since childhood. Despite the solo recordings Carter made for RCA, Columbia and Liberty during the 1960s, she remained in the shadow of the Carter Family and, later, husband Johnny Cash. Even in these Hayride recordings, Carter prefers singing with a group. The group context works well for her strong but less than perfectly pitched voice. She's a good comedienne who nevertheless unleashes some clunkers, plus some jokes are repeated multiple times on this disc. But these are historic recordings and it's a special treat to hear the disc's 1965 recording of Carter singing Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" with Cash and the Statler Brothers at the Hayride.

Glen Bonham "Glen Bonham" You might wonder, as I did, why we need another recording of bluegrass and country chestnuts like "You Don't Know My Mind," the Carter family's "I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home," or "Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again." But you'll stop wondering when you hear Glen Bonham's incredible high lonesome voice in front of a crackerjack band of Nashville session players like Pat Flynn from the New Grass Revival on guitar and Glen Duncan--recently featured on the Earl Scruggs and Friends CD--on fiddle. Bonham not only has pipes, he also has an interesting story. Check it out at Grassroots Media.