Personnel includes: Johnny Cash, Johnny Western (vocals, guitar); Luther Perkins, Ray Edenton (guitar); Marvin Hughes (piano, vibraphone); Floyd Cramer (piano); William Whitney Pursell (organ); Ralph Hansell (vibraphone); Marshall Grant (bass); Morris Palmer, Murray "Buddy" Harman Jr., W.S. "Fluke" Holland (drums); Don Helms (steel drum).

The songs on this compilation span the years 1958-1961. Although Cash had been recording for Sun Records since 1955, it wasn't until he signed with Columbia in 1958 that he was allowed to record non-secular music. The 2 ensuing gospel albums were HYMNS BY JOHNNY CASH (1958) and HYMNS FROM THE HEART (1961).

For the first three years of his career, Johnny Cash recorded for the regional Sun label (the same label that launched the careers of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Howlin' Wolf, and Elvis Presley). When his Sun contract expired, Cash was wooed by a number of major labels. He chose Columbia because A&R director Don Law granted him wide artistic freedom, allowing Cash to record the gospel music he loved alongside his more commercially successful secular music.

THE GOSPEL COLLECTION contains Cash's first two gospel albums for Columbia. The first, 1959's HYMNS BY JOHNNY CASH, sticks close to the formula that worked so well at Sun. Cash's resonant, quavering vocals and Luther Perkins' "boom-chick" guitar style define the sound; the arrangements are often augmented by a vocal chorus, at times effective and at other times thankfully inobtrusive. The spare setting suits Cash, making the first twelve tracks of THE GOSPEL COLLECTION a perfect introduction to his gospel work. The final twelve come from Cash's 1961 album HYMNS FROM THE HEART, and are more heavily produced than the first batch. The song selection and performances here are also effective, despite the fact that Cash's voice is sometimes lost among the instruments and reverb.

Mojo (Publisher) (9/03, p.105) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It's the voice - intimate and honest - that makes these old-time spirituals, hymns and dead-Mom songs so special..."