JOHNNY CASH'S "AMERICAN V: A HUNDRED HIGHWAYS" TO BE RELEASED ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
CD To Feature Brand New Songs Recorded During The Months Before His Passing
LOS ANGELES, CA -- In the months leading up to his passing on September 12,
2003, JOHNNY CASH had been recording new material with producer Rick Rubin.
On July 4, 2006, "American V: A Hundred Highways," the all-new Johnny Cash
album taken from those sessions, will be released on the American Recordings
label through Lost Highway. It will include the last song Cash ever wrote.
The songs that comprise "American V: A Hundred Highways" are as eclectic an
assortment as any on the previous albums in the American series: "Help Me,"
a poignant plea to God, the hauntingly beautiful ballad "If You Could Read
My Mind," "God's Gonna Cut You Down," a traditional spiritual, the touching
"Love's Been Good To Me," the heartrending "On The Evening Train," and
"Further On (Up the Road)" are among the tracks on the new album.
Songwriters for the tracks run the gamut from Hank Williams to Rod McKuen to
Bruce Springsteen.
In addition, two original Cash compositions are featured, "Like the 309" and
"I Came to Believe." "Like the 309" is the last song Cash wrote and, like
his first recorded single, 1955's "Hey Porter," is a song that incorporates
one of his favorite settings, trains: "Everybody take a look/See I'm doin'
fine/Then load my box/On the 309." "I Came to Believe" is a song he wrote
and originally recorded earlier in his career, and addresses the pain of
addiction and connecting to a higher power.
"I think that 'American V' may be my favorite of all of the albums in the
American series," said Rubin. "It's different from the others, it has a
much different character. I think that this is as strong an album as Johnny
ever made."
The months following the May, 2004 passing of his wife June Carter Cash,
were among the most physically and emotionally painful times in Cash's life,
but keeping focused on the recording of "American V: A Hundred Highways"
proved to be his salvation. Rubin remembers, "Johnny said that recording
was his main reason for being alive, and I think it was the only thing that
kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to."
Cash and Rubin began recording the songs that would find their way onto
"American V: A Hundred Highways" in 2002, specifically on the day after
they finished "American IV: The Man Comes Around" which was released that
November. Johnny feared that "American IV" might be his last release, so
Rubin suggested that he immediately begin writing and recording new
material. Over the next eight months, songs were cut at Rubin's Los Angeles
studio and in Nashville at Johnny's main home and at his fabled cabin
located across the road. Due to Cash's frail health, Rubin arranged for an
engineer and guitar players to always be on call for the days that Cash felt
strong enough to work.
"He always wanted to work," said Rubin. "Every morning when he'd wake up,
he would call the engineer and tell him if he was physically up to working
that day. Our main concern was to get a great vocal performance. Johnny
would record a song, send it to me and I would build a new track up under
it. In the past, at the end of this process, he'd come to L.A. And we'd go
through everything together, he would re-record any vocal bits that needed
re-recording. But this time, we didn't have that opportunity."
Last year, Rubin began going through these final recordings. He admitted,
"I kind of dreaded doing it, after Johnny passed, going back and listening
to it...it was difficult.
"With all of the albums Johnny and I made together, our goal was for each
one to be the best it could possibly be, and that remained the case with
'American V,'" Rick explained. Eventually, Cash's long-time engineer David
"Fergie" Ferguson, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell (guitars) and Benmont Tench
(keyboards), and Smokey Hormel (guitars), all of whom had worked on previous
albums in the American series, along with Matt Sweeney (guitars) and Johnny
Polonsky (guitars) went into the studio.
"We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to the end,"
said Rubin. "It felt like he was directing the proceedings, and I know that
the musicians all felt that as well. Almost all of the songs were cut
solely to Johnny's original vocal tracks, the musicians all keyed off his
voice and were playing to him, supporting the emotion of his performance.
More than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny would
love this,' because it was so good and so different from anything we'd done
before, we knew he would be excited by what was happening."
It was decided to wait to release "American V: A Hundred Highways" until
the recent Cash hubbub had run its course. What separates this album from
the re-packages, compilations, movie soundtracks and everything else that
has surfaced since Johnny's passing is, according to Rubin, "These songs are
Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that
was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted
us to hear."
LOS ANGELES, CA -- In the months leading up to his passing on September 12,
2003, JOHNNY CASH had been recording new material with producer Rick Rubin.
On July 4, 2006, "American V: A Hundred Highways," the all-new Johnny Cash
album taken from those sessions, will be released on the American Recordings
label through Lost Highway. It will include the last song Cash ever wrote.
The songs that comprise "American V: A Hundred Highways" are as eclectic an
assortment as any on the previous albums in the American series: "Help Me,"
a poignant plea to God, the hauntingly beautiful ballad "If You Could Read
My Mind," "God's Gonna Cut You Down," a traditional spiritual, the touching
"Love's Been Good To Me," the heartrending "On The Evening Train," and
"Further On (Up the Road)" are among the tracks on the new album.
Songwriters for the tracks run the gamut from Hank Williams to Rod McKuen to
Bruce Springsteen.
In addition, two original Cash compositions are featured, "Like the 309" and
"I Came to Believe." "Like the 309" is the last song Cash wrote and, like
his first recorded single, 1955's "Hey Porter," is a song that incorporates
one of his favorite settings, trains: "Everybody take a look/See I'm doin'
fine/Then load my box/On the 309." "I Came to Believe" is a song he wrote
and originally recorded earlier in his career, and addresses the pain of
addiction and connecting to a higher power.
"I think that 'American V' may be my favorite of all of the albums in the
American series," said Rubin. "It's different from the others, it has a
much different character. I think that this is as strong an album as Johnny
ever made."
The months following the May, 2004 passing of his wife June Carter Cash,
were among the most physically and emotionally painful times in Cash's life,
but keeping focused on the recording of "American V: A Hundred Highways"
proved to be his salvation. Rubin remembers, "Johnny said that recording
was his main reason for being alive, and I think it was the only thing that
kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to."
Cash and Rubin began recording the songs that would find their way onto
"American V: A Hundred Highways" in 2002, specifically on the day after
they finished "American IV: The Man Comes Around" which was released that
November. Johnny feared that "American IV" might be his last release, so
Rubin suggested that he immediately begin writing and recording new
material. Over the next eight months, songs were cut at Rubin's Los Angeles
studio and in Nashville at Johnny's main home and at his fabled cabin
located across the road. Due to Cash's frail health, Rubin arranged for an
engineer and guitar players to always be on call for the days that Cash felt
strong enough to work.
"He always wanted to work," said Rubin. "Every morning when he'd wake up,
he would call the engineer and tell him if he was physically up to working
that day. Our main concern was to get a great vocal performance. Johnny
would record a song, send it to me and I would build a new track up under
it. In the past, at the end of this process, he'd come to L.A. And we'd go
through everything together, he would re-record any vocal bits that needed
re-recording. But this time, we didn't have that opportunity."
Last year, Rubin began going through these final recordings. He admitted,
"I kind of dreaded doing it, after Johnny passed, going back and listening
to it...it was difficult.
"With all of the albums Johnny and I made together, our goal was for each
one to be the best it could possibly be, and that remained the case with
'American V,'" Rick explained. Eventually, Cash's long-time engineer David
"Fergie" Ferguson, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell (guitars) and Benmont Tench
(keyboards), and Smokey Hormel (guitars), all of whom had worked on previous
albums in the American series, along with Matt Sweeney (guitars) and Johnny
Polonsky (guitars) went into the studio.
"We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to the end,"
said Rubin. "It felt like he was directing the proceedings, and I know that
the musicians all felt that as well. Almost all of the songs were cut
solely to Johnny's original vocal tracks, the musicians all keyed off his
voice and were playing to him, supporting the emotion of his performance.
More than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny would
love this,' because it was so good and so different from anything we'd done
before, we knew he would be excited by what was happening."
It was decided to wait to release "American V: A Hundred Highways" until
the recent Cash hubbub had run its course. What separates this album from
the re-packages, compilations, movie soundtracks and everything else that
has surfaced since Johnny's passing is, according to Rubin, "These songs are
Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that
was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted
us to hear."
posted by EmpyreLounge at 10:10 AM
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