“That ghost is me and I will never be set free as long as there’s a ghost that you can’t see.”
Death came to Johnny Cash, as it must to us all, on September 12, 2003. The mighty oak with the booming voice has fallen. This is his last album and his last collaboration with American Recordings and Rick Rubin.
Rubin and Cash began their collaboration in 1994 and it led to much of Cash’s best work in my opinion. Cash had left an unsuccessful stint at Mercury Records and was not being actively pursued by major recording labels. However, Rubin saw something in the legend that those short-sighted suits that run “major recording labels” did not see. Their first collaboration, ‘American Recordings,’ received the Grammy for Contemporary Folk Album in 1994. Perhaps the greater triumph is the Grammy for Best Country Album for ‘Unchained’ in 1996.
The album had been ignored by country music radio in favor of younger, hipper fare. The fact that Cash and Rubin were well aware of when they took out a full page ad in Billboard magazine following the win with a picture of Cash displaying the middle finger and mockingly thanking the country music industry for all of its support. Cash produced what is perhaps his most moving work with his version of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt.” The video that accompanied the song shows an obviously ill Cash, the flooded ruins of his museum House of Cash, and June Carter Cash in the background. The words to the song and the images make it perhaps the most moving music video in the history of music videos. It won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video in 2004. A blow was delivered on May 15, 2003 when Cash’s soul mate June Carter Cash died following heart surgery. She told Johnny to keep working and the results are ‘American V: A Hundred Highways.’ He kept recording as long as his health would permit and continued up till his death.
The album in a word is fantastic. Cash lays down 12 tracks. Most of them are from other artists, but “Like the 309” is the last song he ever wrote (perhaps, Rubin says that he might have enough for another album in 2007). The other songs include “Help Me” by Larry Gatlin, the traditional “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” Gordon Lightfoot’s “If you Could Read my Mind,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Further Up the Road,” Hank Williams’ “On the Evening Train,” and Cash’s earlier work “I Came to Believe.”
“Like the 309” incorporates two themes that ran through Cash’s life, death and trains. Hank Williams’ “On the Evening Train” is especially moving when you consider the content of the song, a husband putting his wife’s casket on the evening train. You can just see that the husband is Johnny and the late wife is June. The other contributions are “Love’s been Good to Me,” “A Legend in My Time,” “Rose of My Heart,” “Four Strong Winds,” and “I’m Free from the Chain Gang Now.”
You get the impression on “I’m Free from the Chain Gang Now” that Cash is singing of being free of his earthly bonds and failing body and not the traditional work gang. I’m a Cash fan and have greatly enjoyed his and Rubin’s collaborations. I think they’ve produced his best work, but they’ve also introduced him to a younger audience. Johnny Cash was a legend and his legend will live on in his music. Rest in peace John. I’m sure you’re happy to be with June again.
‘American V: A Hundred Highways’ is now available at Amazon . Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.
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