Little Fauss and Big Halsy (Original Soundtrack Recording)

The soundtrack album to the overlooked 1971 film Little Fauss and Big Halsy finds Johnny Cash and his Tennessee Three teaming up with his old Sun Records labelmate Carl Perkins on a short but engaging set of original tunes. Reflecting the movie's motorcycle-racing theme, the songs have a scruffy, hardbitten feel that recalls the Man in Black’s early hits. Cash embodies the outlaw spirit of the film’s main characters (played by Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard) in the rollicking “Rollin’ Free” and the melancholy “Little Man.” Perkins makes his presence felt by contributing songs like “The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsy” and “Movin’” (a pair of driving rockabilly numbers that Cash sings with grit and defiance), as well as some tasty guitar work. The hidden gem here is “Wanted Man,” an obscure Bob Dylan composition that perfectly fits the film’s mix of dirt, lust, and larceny. The tender country ballad “True Love Is Greater Than Friendship” brings a little sentimentality to the proceedings. Curious Cash and Perkins fans will find this interesting obscurity worth a listen.