“Daddy Sang Bass” by Johnny Cash

Carl Perkins wrote "Daddy Sang Bass" in 1967, and it grew out of Johnny Cash's own turnaround: by Cash's telling, he beat his amphetamine habit by finding God, then pulled Perkins, his old friend and road companion, out of his drinking, and Perkins answered with this song. Cash released it in November 1968 to lead off The Holy Land, and it sat atop Billboard's country listings for 6 straight weeks.

It's a family singalong, borrowing from the chorus of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and backed by a front porch full of voices: the Carter Family, Jan Howard and the Statler Brothers, with Bob Johnston producing and Perkins on electric guitar beside Luther Perkins. The line about little brother joining in was Cash's nod to his brother Jack, who died when both were boys; the Statlers' Don Reid and Lew DeWitt sing it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.