Unreleased until 1964, six years after Johnny Cash's 1958 departure from Sun for Columbia Records, Original Sun Sound spans both his first and final recordings for the label. The early "Wide Open Road" shows the singer still under influence of Hank Williams (as well being a rarity in featuring the steel guitar of A.W. "Red" Kernodle, who left the group shortly afterwards), but the sardonic, Charlie Rich-penned "Thanks a Lot," from one of his final Sun sessions, finds Cash beholden to no one but himself. There's also Cash's self-penned gospel song, "Belshazah," an unusual inclusion in that his producer, Sam Phillips, usually recorded only the performer's secular material.