 |
Johnny Cash
America V American/Lost
Highway 0602498626962 |
|
|
Johnny Cash passed away on 12 September 2003, leaving a great void in not only country music, but also music in general. Though a sick man Cash had worked with record producer Rick Rubin for several months recording some new songs that Cash felt he needed and wanted to record. His wife of 35 years, June Carter Cash passed in May that same year bringing about the most physically and emotionally painful times in Cash's life. Working on American V - A Hundred Highways was a way that Johnny Cash coped with his great loss, keeping him focused and proved to be his salvation. There are 12 tracks on American
V - A Hundred Highways. Cash began recording the
tracks in 2002 after releasing the American IV album that
November. Over an eight-month period the songs were recorded
at American V - A Hundred Highways opens with Johnny Cash offering a poignant plea to God with "Help Me" (Larry Gatlin), the traditional "God's Gonna Cut You Down" comes next and is followed by the last song that Johnny Cash wrote, "Like The 309"…a train song with a choppy beat and the lines "Everybody take a look/See I'm doin' fine/Then load my box/On the 309". American V is an album that shouts out that a man sees the end of his life not being far down the track and the frailty can be heard in Johnny Cash's voice. Other tracks to be found here include a haunting version of "If You Could Read My Mind" (Gordon Lightfoot), Bruce Springsteen's "Further On (Up The Road)" and Hank Williams' touching "On The Evening Train". "I Came
To Believe" was written by Cash and originally
recorded by him early in his career. Rod McKuen's "Love's
Been Good To Me" sits perfectly as it displays
the thoughts of a man looking back at some of the good
times in a man's long life. Don Gibson's "A
Legend In My Time" says it all about Johnny
Cash. The last three tracks on the album include Hugh
Moffatt's lovely "Rose Of My
Heart", "Four Strong
Winds" (Ian Rick Rubin says "it was decided to wait to release American V: A Hundred Highways untill the recent Cash hubbub had run its course. These songs are Johnny's final statement. This is the music Johnny wanted us to hear." On a personal note…Johnny Cash's album
Ring Of Fire (Columbia/CBS 1963) was the first country album
that I bought as a teenager and now over 40 years down the line American
V - A Hundred Highways is an album not to be left out of
the record collection of the likes of myself and the many
worldwide fans of Johnny Cash, both young and old!!! |
||
Rubin's
Los Angeles studio and Johnny Cash's main home in Nashville,
plus his fabled cabin located across the road. With Cash's
frail health Rubin arranged for an engineer and guitar
players to be on hand to record when Cash felt strong
enough to do so.
Tyson)
and "I'm Free From The Chain
Gang Now" (Lou Herscher/Saul Klein).
 |