Johnny and June Carter Cash went to their homes in Bon Aqua, and Hendersonville, Tennessee to tape The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976. After opening the show, Johnny takes guest Tony Orlando for a ride around his property, teasing him about country versus city life, and promising that “June makes the best snake and potatoes around.” In addition to several stellar performances, including “Christmas As I Knew It,” the special includes a medley of songs from Stephen Foster, “a man from the North,” Cash says, “who wrote such great things about the South.” The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976, which originally aired December 6, 1976, on CBS, also features special guests Roy Clark, Merle Travis, Barbara Mandrell, and Billy Graham.

The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977 includes an all-star tribute to Elvis Presley, who had passed away two months prior. Taped at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, fellow Sun Records labelmates and rockabilly pioneers Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison join Cash on “This Train Is Bound For Glory” in memory of Presley, whose affinity for such sacred music was well known. In addition to a selection of Christmas songs, many hit singles are performed on this special, including Perkins’s “Blue Suede Shoes,” Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” and Lewis’s 1957 Sun smash “Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On.” Cash goes on to recall a life-changing holiday season he experienced while stationed in Germany in the early 1950s. “I was lonesome, homesick and had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” he explains. “But one day I walked four miles through the snow to a little pawn shop where there was a guitar in the window with a five-dollar price tag.”

The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976

Wandering – Johnny Cash

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree – Tony Orlando, Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash

Christmas As I Knew It – Johnny Cash

Far Away Places – Johnny Cash & Roy Clark

Juke Box Saturday Night – Roy Clark

That Lucky Old Sun – Johnny Cash

The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) – Roy Clark

Stephen Foster Medley

Camptown Races – Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando

Beautiful Dreamer – Roy Clark

Old Folks At Home – Johnny Cash

Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair – Tony Orlando

Oh! Susanna – Johnny Cash, Roy Clark & Tony Orlando

Follow Me – June Carter Cash

Cannonball Rag – Merle Travis

That Christmasy Feeling – Tommy Cash

In The Pines – Carter Family

Steel Guitar Rag – Barbara Mandrell

It’s A Beautiful Morning With You – Barbara Mandrell

Old Time Feeling – Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash

A Story Of Christmas – Billy Graham

The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977

Christmas Time’s A-Comin’ – Johnny Cash

Darlin’ Companion – Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash

This Ole House – Johnny Cash & The Statler Brothers

Blue Christmas – Johnny Cash & The Statler Brothers

Here Comes Santa Claus – Johnny Cash & Roy Clark

Frosty The Snow Man – Johnny Cash & Roy Clark

Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer – Johnny Cash and Roy Clark

Big River – Johnny Cash

Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins

Oh, Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison

Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On – Jerry Lee Lewis

White Christmas – Jerry Lee Lewis

This Train Is Bound For Glory – Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison & Carl Perkins

Silent Night –Johnny Cash, Family & Friends

O Little Town Of Bethlehem – June Carter Cash

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Johnny Cash, Family & Friends