If I Told You Who It Was by Johnny Cash

Album: Out Among the Stars (2014)

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This collaboration with Minnie Pearl is one of a number of lost recordings laid down by Johnny Cash in the 1980s with Billy Sherrill, who was the head of A&R at Columbia Records at that time in Nashville. In 2012 his son, Johnny Carter Cash, found the songs among a huge stash of his father's effects. Carter Cash recalled to The Guardian: "When I first heard 'If I Told You Who It Was,' I laughed out loud. What fun, what energy, what spirit. My dad was dear friends with many people in the music business and what a blessing to have a guest appearance in this by the great Minnie Pearl."

Minnie Pearl was a beloved folksy comedian who was a regular on the television variety show Hee Haw between 1969 and 1991.
John Carter Cash commented to NME: "Perhaps not many people are aware that dad had a great sense of humor, and you hear it loud and clear here."

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