Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain’t No Grave Review

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 02.23.2010

It’s the final word from the Man In Black, as his final studio recordings (and the final songs he wrote) are issued as the sixth and last volume in the American Recordings series. What did Cash have to say in the last days of his life? And could it measure up to the classics that precede it?

By now, anyone who has paid any attention knows the story when it comes to the final chapter of Johnny Cash’s career. After spending the 60’s and 70’s as one of country and all of music’s greatest entertainers, Cash found himself languishing with a 1980’s Nashville that wasn’t quite sure of what to do with him. In 1986, he left Columbia Records, the label he’d called his home since his Sun days in the 50’s. He signed on with Mercury, but that partnership that only produced one Top 40 Country hit – a duet with Hank Williams, Jr. called “That Old Wheel”. By the early 90’s, the writing was on the wall for John at Mercury – partly because the label didn’t want to give him near the creative license he’d received at Columbia, and partly because Cash was simply out of ideas.

Enter Rick Rubin. Rubin signed Cash to his own American Recordings in 1993. Rubin was a hot rap and metal producer who helped Russell Simmons form the seminal Def Jam label. He now ran his own label, American, and managed to convince Cash that there was still plenty of great music for him to record. A skeptical Cash figured he had little to lose, so he went into the project headlong.

Rubin’s idea for Cash was to showcase his powerful and authoritative baritone in a raw and naked environment, recording Cash for the first time with only an acoustic guitar and voice on the entire record. Rubin encouraged Cash to sing his own songs, country standards, and even unlikely music by acts like Nick Lowe, Danzig and Tom Waits. The resulting album, titled simply American Recordings caught the attention of music critics with its stark beauty, and the pairing of Rubin and Cash also caught the eye of a younger group of fans who knew Cash only from his badass outlaw records that their parents or even grandparents loved to listen to. In a sense, Johnny Cash had been reborn.

Flash forward a decade. By 2003, Cash had released his fourth studio album for American, American IV: The Man Comes Around. The first two volumes had earned Cash Grammy Awards in the Folk and Country categories. Unfortunately, as his career began its third or fourth wind, Cash’s physical health was deteriorating. Hints were there on American III that his voice just wasn’t as strong as it had been, but American IV really began to show John’s frailty. Instead of trying to hide it with overdubs and background singers, Rubin and Cash embraced his battles with his health, helping to create some of the most honest and raw records the music world had ever seen. This all peaked with a track from IV, a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt”. The pairing of Cash and “Hurt” proved to be one of the greatest ideas conceivable, as John brought a new dimension and weariness to Trent Reznor’s song of life and regret.

Unfortunately, Cash wouldn’t have long to enjoy the song’s success. In May of 2003, his wife of 35 years – June Carter Cash – died during surgery. During the months after American IV, Cash and Rubin worked as fast as they could to put down as much material as possible. With his health failing, Rubin would often find himself having a band on call, waiting to hear if John was feeling up to singing that day. They continued that way until September 13, 2003, when Johnny Cash died due to complications from diabetes.

Following Cash’s death, plenty of music became available – mostly repackaging of his decades of hits. As for his later output for American, three discs have been released. There was the box set of unreleased material called Unearthed, which included a full disc new gospel set called My Mother’s Hymn Book. Then, in 2006, American released American V: A Hundred Highways, a new studio album culled from those final months of sessions. A Hundred Highways debuted at #1, marking Cash’s first time on top of the charts since the late 60’s.

Earlier this year, American announced that they’d assembled the final songs remaining from Cash’s last sessions for a sixth volume in the American series. On February 23, 2010 - just three days shy of what would be his 78th birthday - American released American VI: Ain’t No Grave, the final studio album by Johnny Cash.



1. Ain’t No Grave
2. Redemption Day
3. For The Good Times
4. I Corinthians 15:55
5. Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound
6. A Satisfied Mind
7. I Don’t Hurt Anymore
8. Cool Water
9. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
10. Aloha Oe

If you thought American V was depressing, don’t even think of putting on American VI if you’re feeling frail. While Cash sounded ready for the journey into the hereafter on V, the songs assembled here are more of a quiet resignation to fate. The amazing thing about American VI, though, is that Cash is accepting death without bitterness. In fact, there’s a wistful nostalgia that pops up on songs like “A Satisfied Mind” and “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” that keeps the album firmly grounded in its commitment to life, despite its encroaching darkness. A hell of a feat.

One thing that may be apparent to fans of the American series is the song choice on Ain’t No Grave. While it follows the blueprint of Cash covering other artists, the field is much more narrow for a guy who made Beck and Danzig sound at home beside Nick Lowe and Hank Williams. Everything here comes from the world of country and folk, with the one outlier being a cover of Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day”. But isn’t Sheryl just a modern day folkie?

Some might consider the narrow scope a little boring, but it does create a good flow and cohesiveness, serving American VI as an album. And speaking of cohesiveness, VI has more in common with its predecessors than just John and Rick Rubin. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench are part of the albums band – veterans of Cash’s American output going back to 1996’s Unchained. Guitarists Smokey Hormel and Matt Sweeney also return. The only guests on the album are the Avett Brothers, who lend banjo and “footsteps” to the title track.

Footsteps? That’s right, and “Ain’t No Grave” – which kicks off the album – absolutely bone chilling. A bassy guitar rings out and chains rattle as Cash sings defiantly “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down.” This cover of an obscure track by preacher/songwriter Brother Claude Ely is yet another case of brilliance when it comes to what songs are covered on the American series.

Cash’s take on Crow’s “Redemption Day” is also brilliant and weighty, while his takes on friend Kris Kristoffereson’s “For The Good Times” and country standard “A Satisified Mind” come off as fun in the face of darkness. The only song that really falters is a cover of the anti-war tune “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” – perhaps it’s just the song’s resurgence in the past few years that makes Cash’s take on it come off as labored. Quite simply, he’s said it better before.

American VI also boasts what’s being billed as the final song Cash wrote – “I Corinthians 15:55”. The song is adapted from a Bible verse that reads “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Cash turns this into a sweet country journey song, a final example of his brilliance in bringing matters of the spiritual to the common man.

The album ends with “Aloha Oe”, the classic Hawaiian farewell song. I must admit, when American V was announced in 2006, I was a little sad, as IV’s closer “We’ll Meet Again” worked so well as the final farewell from Cash. While the big chorus on “We’ll Meet Again” was sweet and happy, Cash’s tender treatment of “Aloha” is even better, as he rides off alone into that sunset, still a tall shadow on the horizon all these years later.

The 411: If American VI is the final word from Johnny Cash, then it’s a fitting end, to both his career as an iconic singer and his American Recordings series. While V was weighed down in its theme of courage in the face of death, VI carries a feeling of joyful resignation that leaves Cash’s fins with a much more satisfied mind. Tracks like “Ain’t No Grave”, “Aloha Oe” and “Redemption Day” stand tall amongst the excellent material Cash created with Rick Rubin, and the fact that Rubin and band members hand-picked by John before his death helped craft this last studio album lends to its status as a true final studio album. You have to think it wouldn’t sound any different had Cash lived to see its release. While one could gripe about the narrow song scope, short runtime or even Cash’s failing vocals, they all become part of this album’s overall place as Cash’s last goodbye.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]