JOHNNY CASH
American V: A Hundred Highways
American Recordings 2006
www.johnnycash.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
The fifth in a series of collaborations with renowned producer Rick Rubin is a posthumous release that serves as a superb statement on the life and times of the Man In Black.

Genre
Country / vocal / rock / spiritual

The Good
The traditional spiritual tune “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” surprised me. Not so much that it came out good, but rather than I liked it. It’s one of the tracks were Cash’s voice is at it’s strongest. The vocal performances range from strong to almost heartbreakingly brittle. Ironically enough, the songs were his voice sounds strained actually work to give the material a touch more emotional resonance. The Gordon Lightfoot song “If You Could Read My Mind” is a perfect example of this.

The arrangements are direct and simple. Instead of opting for anything flashy, they let the music and vocal performances shine through and stand out on their own. In a way, the backing musical tracks are incidental to Cash’s voice.
The best song on the CD is yet another of Cash’s odes to trains, “On The Evening Train.” I found it just flat out grabbed your ear until he was done with what he had to say. The cover of the Bruce Springsteen song “Further On (Up The Road)” was nicely done. Other standouts were “Rose Of My Heart” and “I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now.”

The Bad
I didn’t really care for the Don Gibson written track “A Legend In My Time.”

The Verdict
I would never say that I’ve been a big Johnny Cash fan, but you can’t help be drawn in by his life story and the mystique of the nickname “The Man In Black.”
While I don’t think the sessions for this album were actually intended as “the final sessions,” the fact they ended up that way gives a big heft to the album. It reminds me, after a fashion, of the recording of the final Warren Zevon album, The Wind. According to producer Rick Rubin, there is actually enough material that was recorded to put out an American VI album, so this CD may not be the last “new” album from Cash. However, I was really interested to check out this album, and if was to be that last album, it would be a fitting musical epitaph for John R. Cash.

Did You Know?
The song on this album “Like The 309” is said to be the last song Cash wrote and recorded before his death. He guest starred on four episodes of the 1990’s CBS drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Three of those appearances were with his wife June Carter Cash.

Rating: out of 5

-- Jay Roberts