Johnny Cash has been dead, undisturbed, underground, emotionless, next to his beloved wife, in Nashville, Tennessee, in the Hendersonville Memory Gardens, in the Garden of Matthew, with the fourteenth verse of the nineteenth chapter of the biblical Psalms imprinted on his tombstone, for nearly 13 years. He was 71 when he died: 71 years, six months and 29 days after his birth in Great Depression-era Kingsland, Arkansas. It’s difficult to overstate the cultural impact Cash has made on American music, be it country, folk, rockabilly, rock and roll, or gospel, as well as the motivation and inspiration he brought upon his contemporaries: Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, the Carter Family, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Bono, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Waylon Jennings, to name a few. Through his music, he addressed the war in Vietnam and the treatment of prisoners and Native Americans, advocating for tolerance across race, background, and religion.
But that was many decades ago. To many, the best of Johnny Cash was over by the 1980s, and he was to fade into obscurity like many others; yet during the late 20th and early 21st century, Cash surprised us with the multiple albums he released with Rick Rubin, which showed off a musically strong Cash despite his physically weak state. These later albums helped reinvent and reinvigorate his image, especially for younger audiences, without actually changing his iconic vocal style. He covered powerful modern and relevant hits such as Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage,” traditional gospel hymns such as “I’ll Fly Away,” classic ballads such as Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” and recorded new renditions of his own songs such as his 1964 single “Understand Your Man.” In the end, he was, and forever will be, a unique voice of the United States of America; the bass-baritone and smooth voice that yearned for love and equality all around the world, but deep inside, reminded others of his somber heart, especially in his final years.
Cash’s musical career stagnated in the early 1990s as it had in previous decades, partly due to the growing pool of popular younger country artists dominating country-music stations, partly due to treatment by the recording labels that he had worked with previously. This usually resulted in the failure of subsequent albums. Columbia Records, in Cash’s own words, was “invisible” to the label; he was no longer getting “the full frontline marketing treatment” when referring to the advertising for his albums, even though, in musician Dwight Yoakam’s words, Cash had practically, “built the building.” This led to a cycle of his albums not selling well due to poor advertising, which not only lowered Cash’s confidence, but supported the Columbia executives’ notion that they should give Cash even less advertising. Columbia Records dropped Cash on July 15, 1986, after he had worked with them for nearly 28 years. Mercury Recordings, Cash’s next record label, failed to use Cash for his full musical potential, encouraging Cash to cover songs that didn’t fit him well—see Cash’s cover of Clark’s and McBride’s “Heavy Metal (Don’t Mean Rock and Roll to Me)” on his 1987 album Johnny Cash is Coming to Town. But all the while, another competitor looked at Cash with wanting eyes. Rick Rubin, producer of such acts as the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and LL Cool J and controversial hip-hop trailblazer, wanted to work with Cash. “Most of the artists that I had worked with at the time were all new bands and young artists, and I was thinking it would be really fun to work with a substantial grown-up artist,” Rubin said. But first he had to get Cash on his side, which he did through a novel promise to let Cash “sit down before my microphone with your guitar and sing every song you want to perform.” By 1993, Cash signed a record deal with Rick Rubin to perform on his American Recordings label. Johnny Cash’s American Recordings [I] was released on April 26, 1994, starring a lone Cash and his guitar, in his living room. Johnny Cash was back.
American Recordings reintroduced a Rubin-approved, darker Cash, contrasting with his image from previous decades, during which he had sold himself as “the Patriot.” This wasn’t a complete change of image to discourage older fans, however: Cash still covered Christian songs such as Kristofferson’s “Why Me Lord,” but the entire repertoire had grave and redemptive connotations. In his song “Let the Train Blow The Whistle,” Cash responded to those few who got in his way. “Tell the gossipers and liars / I will see them in the fire / Let the train blow the whistle when I go.” Indeed, this consistent melancholic theme would continue throughout the remainder of Cash’s career.
After more compilation albums and the final album for the country supergroup The Highwaymen, Cash continued working with Rubin for American II: Unchained, released on November 5, 1996, and American III: Solitary Man, released on October 17, 2000. These titles were taken from the stanzas of two cover songs: Johnstone’s “Unchained” and Diamond’s “Solitary Man.” Two major changes happened between the first album and the two subsequent one. One, there were fewer original songs in both albums compared to the initial album (due to the decline of Cash’s health) and two, there were more performers and instruments accompanying Cash; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Will Oldham, two members of Fleetwood Mac, Fiona Apple, Nick Cave, Don Henley, Carl Perkins, and Jack Clement supported and harmonized with him. Though many things were different, some stayed the same: the music continued to be predominantly melancholic (Cave’s and Harvey’s “The Mercy Seat”: “And the mercy seat is glowing / And I think my head is smokin’ / And in a way I’m hoping / To be done with all these looks of disbelief / A life for a life / And a truth for a truth / And I’ve got nothing left to lose / And I’m not afraid to die”), and the albums continued to merit critical acclaim and win awards.
By now, time was ticking for Cash; it was two years into the new millennium and his body was failing him (many said it was the drugs and the alcohol he abused decades prior). He had already had surgeries on his knees, heart, and jaw, and autonomic neuropathy had stopped him from ever touring. Suddenly, the songs Cash sang about death and hell didn’t seem superficial. He was that close to death’s door and he knew it. He kept recording for Rubin and on November 5, 2002, released American IV: The Man Comes Around, title taken from Cash’s original composition “The Man Comes Around,” a song with lyrics remarketing the verses of the Bible’s Book of Revelation. One of Cash’s best American Recordings albums, American IV showcases beautiful orchestral and dedicated covers of well-known songs such as the Beatles’ “In My Life,” Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and Trent Reznor’s “Hurt,” which became Cash’s most prominent swan song before his death. With a music video filmed by Mark Romanek, “Hurt” features a reminiscent and repentant Cash looking back on his lengthy and arduous career, with the future left undetermined and bleak, backed with a simpler chord progression and quicker tempo than the original Nine Inch Nails version.
June Carter Cash, Cash’s wife for nearly 35 years, comedian, singer, performer and songwriter, was, according to Cash, “the greatest woman [he] ever met” and “the #1 Earthly reason for [his] existence.” Both saving his life from drug addiction and reinvigorating his career through his mariachi cover of her song, “Ring of Fire,” she was a rock of solidarity and love for Cash throughout his life. She died at 73 on May 15, 2003 with her last request to Cash “to keep recording.” He did. Still devastated, three days after her funeral, Cash continued recording with Rubin, and kept recording vigorously until his death four months after, officially from diabetes complications, but according to some, a broken heart. Johnny Cash was dead, but his long-lasting career continued.
Unearthed, a massive compilation of new songs, outtakes and different versions of the songs Cash released in the timespan between the first three American Recordings albums and a standalone compilation of gospel songs Cash learned as a kid (Johnny Cash’s My Mother’s Hymn Book), was released on November 25, 2003. American V: A Hundred Highways was released on July 4, 2006, and American VI: Ain’t No Grave, was released on February 23, 2010, again, titles taken from the stanzas of covered songs: McKuen’s “Love’s Been Good to Me” and Ely’s “Ain’t No Grave.” Songs chosen to be released from the two albums were specifically chosen to sound as if Cash were speaking to the listener straight from the grave, whether it be brutal religious advice (Traditional: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”), a warm goodbye to his loyal audience (Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times”), or personal thoughts on death (Cash’s “1st Corinthians 15:55”).
The American Recordings series was one of the best ways Cash could have gone out—157 songs have been released by Cash under American Recordings. They kept Cash relevant and long-running, in control of the direction of his career, and revived the popular but troubled outlaw persona that made him famous to begin with. However, this decade-long image shift was incredibly controversial in the country-music community, which refused to acknowledge his success or even play his songs on the radio, though it was not the first time Cash stood up against the music industries of his time. Modern country didn’t see Cash’s music as typical country mainstream: it wasn’t the happy, youthful and adventurous image they liked or believed others liked, and year after year Cash was passed up for Country Music Awards (though he was well-compensated with Grammys and mentions by MTV). Rubin and Cash infamously replied to this dilemma with an inappropriate, but appropriately Cash, full-page advertisement of a 1969 Johnny Cash giving the finger to the “Nashville music establishment and country radio.” But it was cynicism that forced the country-music industry to celebrate Johnny Cash’s comeback in the end, believing that they should do so only due to the fact that “he was going to die sooner or later.” American IV was awarded “Album of the Year,” the music video for “Hurt” was named “Music Video of the Year,” while the song itself was awarded “Single of the Year” by the Country Music Awards 2003 in November, though it was too late by then.
Now the future of Johnny Cash is left ambiguous: it’s been nearly seven years since the release of a Johnny Cash American Recordings album, and three years since the release of any Johnny Cash album. Rubin confirms that he still has enough recordings from his time with Cash to produce three or four new albums. Only time will tell how the legacy of Johnny Cash will unfold, and how well it will remind us of a time when one of music’s greatest and most influential heroes was still walking the line.