Record #723: Johnny Cash – American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)

There are precious few figures in pop music history who can truly be called Icons: singular performers who are without peer. Artists like David Bowie, The Beatles, or Miles Davis, whose legacies overshadow all contemporaries and transcend generations.

There is no mistaking that Johnny Cash is one of these artists. But one of the biggest reasons his legacy survived as well as it did was his late-career partnership with producer Rick Rubin, who cut his teeth working with hip hop and metal acts like the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Slayer. On paper, the two seem like the strangest bedfellows you could put together. But throughout the American Recordings series, Rubin demonstrated a keen instinct for bringing Cash’s ragged performances to life.

While all of the albums released in the series are littered with gems, none are quite as packed as The Man Comes Around, the final album Cash would release before his death.

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Most American Albums Ever

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and some seriously kickass music.

The United States has been the muse for thousands of songs, whether they be celebratory, critical, or somewhere in between.

Today, in honor of our independence, I’m listing off some of my favorite albums that are unmistakably American.  Continue reading

Record #387: Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two – Original Golden Hits, Volume 1 (1969)

As well as releasing 96 studio albums in his lifetime, Johnny Cash’s record labels (and he had deals with dozens) released hundreds of compilations…
Especially these early tunes. This compilation includes every megahit but Ring of Fire. Folsom Prison Blues, Cry Cry Cry, Get Rhythm, I Walk the Line, and Hey Porter are all accounted for. Which makes sense, because I’m pretty sure every Johnny Cash compilation is legally required to feature at least one of those four tunes.

And for any lesser musician, even the forgotten gems on this disc would be career standouts. But thanks to Cash’s boundless output, even these great tracks got buried under bonafide hits.

Record #299: Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line (1964)

Record #299: Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line (1964)
In the mid 1960s, Johnny Cash, who was already an established star, signed to Columbia Records. In an effort to make as much money out of their new star, Columbia released I Walk the Line, an album...

 

In the mid 1960s, Johnny Cash, who was already an established star, signed to Columbia Records. In an effort to make as much money out of their new star, Columbia released I Walk the Line, an album filled with rerecorded versions of his biggest hits released through his old label. Cash grab though it was, there’s no denying that these are great songs are great. Big River, Folsom Prison Blues, Hey Porter, I Walk the Line…half of these songs were on the career spanning “Legend of Johnny Cash” released after his death.