Two special DVDs are arriving just in time for the holiday season. The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976 and The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977 are the first releases to come out of the exclusive agreement between Shout! Factory and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, allowing Shout! Factory to release DVDs taken from television shows archived in the Museum and representing many of country music’s all-time top artists. These DVDs will mark the first time in 30 years that these Christmas specials have been seen.

Johnny and June Carter Cash went to their homes in Bon Aqua, and Hendersonville, Tennessee to tape The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976. After opening the show, Johnny takes guest Tony Orlando for a ride around his property, teasing him about country versus city life, and promising that “June makes the best snake and potatoes around.”

In addition to several stellar performances, including “Christmas As I Knew It,” the special includes a medley of songs from Stephen Foster, “a man from the North,” Johnny says, “who wrote such great things about the South.” The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976, which originally aired Dec. 6, 1976, on CBS, also features special guests Roy Clark, Merle Travis, Barbara Mandrell, and Billy Graham.

The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977 includes an all-star tribute to Elvis Presley, who had passed away two months prior. Taped at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, fellow Sun Records labelmates and rockabilly pioneers Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison join Johnny on “This Train Is Bound for Glory” in memory of Elvis.

In addition to a selection of Christmas songs, many hit singles are performed on this special, including Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” and Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On.”

In recent years, Shout! Factory has released country titles such as Solomon Burke’s Nashville, Jessi Colter’s Out of the Ashes, and John Prine Live on Soundstage 1980. On Sept. 4, the California-based company released a collection of home movies from legendary songwriter/producer Cowboy Jack Clement, titled Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan.