Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 07.13.2006
The Man In Black’s legend lives on…
My Story
On one of the most pivotal nights of my musical life, I became a fan of Johnny Cash. A friend of mine, who had a plethora of music that my untested ears had yet to begin to appreciate, played so much great stuff for me that night, but I can still remember nearly every song. One album stands out the most, though, and that was American Recordings.
Now, I grew up listening to country music nearly exclusively. I liked so many eras of the genre, from George Jones to Randy Travis to Garth Brooks, but I can honestly say I’d never been a big fan of Cash. I mean, I’d heard a few of the songs, and who doesn’t enjoy “A Boy Named Sue”, but I’d yet to come to the understanding that the 50’s Sun records were the single most important songs put to vinyl.
When I heard Cash for seemingly the first time that night, I heard what true country music was all about. Just a man and his guitar with his decades of experience and musical knowledge. American Recordings still stands today as one of my favorite albums, and each Cash release that followed was anticipated, analyzed and enjoyed. The messages were raw, the emotion was real, the feelings put into each song were palpable.
When Cash passed away, I didn’t expect this final album to see the light of day and, when I heard it was going to hit stores nearly two years after John’s death, I was worried that it wouldn’t measure up. Cash died with the album incomplete, not to mention that he was dying while putting it together. I went into American V a little less than optimistic. What would Johnny Cash’s final recordings sound like?
His Story
Johnny Cash was born in Arkansas in the early 30’s. He grew up with a deep appreciation for music, and fulfilled a lifelong goal when he recorded his first single “Cry Cry Cry”, a song that reached Country music’s Top 10.
That makes a nice beginning, doesn’t it? But the truth is this: Johnny Cash made history in 1955 when he first recorded for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records label, and the honest music that would come from Cash would change the face of country and rock music forever. Not just once, but several times.
Johnny Cash’s blend of rock ‘n’ roll attitude and the world-weariness of folk hardly fit the mould of any music that was around in Cash’s early years, but Cash soon became forever synonymous with country, a genre that suited him just fine. By the time Cash jumped from Sun to Columbia Records in 1958 (for both better money and greater artistic freedom), he had well over a dozen hit singles under his belt. His Columbia years were no less successful. With legendary hit songs like “Ring Of Fire” and “Understand Your Man”, as well as national attention thanks to his outlaw image, Cash rode high for several years with Columbia. Unfortunately, with a rock star life comes rock star excess. Cash’s drug habit soon caught up with him to the point that his music was affected. By the mid-60’s, hit records were fewer and far between. It seemed that Cash’s way of life was poised to overtake his success.
Fortunately, help came along by way of Cash’s soon-to-be wife June Carter of the legendary Carter family. Carter helped Cash kick his drug habit and revitalize his career. She gave him more than love, she gave him a passion to keep pressing on. In 1968, Cash made a huge comeback with the unprecedented live album At Folsom Prison, which yielded a return to the singles charts for Cash as the live version of his signature “Folsom Prison Blues” shot to the top of the charts. The Man In Black was back in a big way.
Along with several hit singles in this second chapter of his career, Cash also made his mark on television as well; his innovative “Johnny Cash Show” ran on ABC for two seasons. The show bent genres deftly, featuring such seemingly dissimilar musicians as Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt and Gordon Lightfoot collaborating with Cash.
The good times couldn't last forever, though. By the time the 70’s were ending, Cash was beginning to find himself in another decline. His singles were charting lower and his relationship with Columbia was going sour. The label seemed less and less interested in the aging country icon and in 1986 the two parted ways, ending a nearly 30 year business association. Cash hopped to Mercury Records, but the pairing seemed to be doomed from the start. The label wanted to put a short leash on Cash, who they viewed more as a had-been novelty act, and Cash didn’t enjoy nearly the range of creative freedom that Columbia had given him in his early days. With both radio and label apathy, Cash’s self confidence began to falter as making music became harder and his output grew more routine.
Cash had some luck in the early 90’s as a second collaboration with The Highwaymen (a country super group consisting of Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson) sold well; better, in fact, than most of his solo work had charted in the past decade. Cash’s deal with Mercury ended in 1993, and many in the industry had more or less written The Man In Black off. John had been pushed aside for something shiny and new, a legend whose last act seemed to be to ride away quietly. But that wasn’t everyone’s idea. Enter Rick Rubin.
Rubin was a hot rap and metal producer who helped Russel Simmons form the seminal Def Jam label. He owned his own imprint, American, and managed to convince Cash to sign on in the early 90’s, convincing 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 authoritive baritone in a raw and naked environment, recording Cash for the first time with only an acoustic guitar and voice on an entire record. Rubin encouraged Cash to sing his own songs, country standards, and even unlikely cuts 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.
After American Recordings picked up a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Cash and Rubin hit the studio again, this time seeing how Cash would fair in a full band environment. Rather than hire session musicians, Rubin called in associate Tom Petty to bring in his tight Heartbreakers to act as Cash’s backing unit. The disc once again featured some strange selections, as Cash covered everyone from himself to Petty to Beck to Jimmie Rodgers to Soundgarden. With the Heartbreakers behind him, Unchained became an album that managed to exceed the tough expectations that American Recordings had brought about. The disc was even awarded the Grammy for Best Country Album in 1997, despite the fact that it got zero radio play.
Following two successful albums, Cash was back in the national spotlight for the first time in nearly 20 years. Cash compilations and T-shirts became a hot commodity. John appeared all over MTV and even had a well-received episode of VH1’s “Storytellers”.
Around the time Cash and Rubin started work on their third disc together, Cash was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (which was actually a misdiagnosis) and his health was failing fast. Public appearances became scattered, but Cash was determined to continue his studio work with Rubin, even if it was at a slower pace.
American III: Solitary Man hit stores in 2000. The disc was a combination of the stark first album and the rocked up Unchained, and featured collaborations with folks like Petty and Sheryl Crow, and brilliant covers by everyone from U2 to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to David Allan Coe. The album stood up to its successors, but Cash’s voice was beginning to convey the severity of his health problems. Still, Cash managed to take each of the songs and make them most definitely his, singing with a gentle authority that expressed his 68 years of both heartbreak and joy.
American IV: The Man Comes Around dropped in 2002 and featured more of the same. The album was hailed by critics and, thanks to a stunning video, Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” became his first radio hit in a long time.
Unfortunately, 2003 would mark more than Cash’s return to radio and awards shows. In May, Cash’s longtime wife and inspiration June Carter died during heart surgery. The heartbroken Cash threw himself into his work following June’s death, toiling hard to complete his follow-up to American IV as well as put together a box set of session recordings that hadn’t made his American albums. Cash never lived to see either’s completion. On September 13, 2003, Johnny Cash died due to complications from diabetes.
Later that year, Cash’s American box set Unearthed hit stores. The massive 5-disc set featured 4 records' worth of unreleased material, including a full new gospel set called My Mother’s Hymn Book. Several compilation albums also followed Cash’s death, and a movie called Walk The Line based on Cash’s early years became a huge box office success.
With Cash's recording career over for real this time, it was shocking when, in early 2006, Rick Rubin announced that he would be finishing and releasing Cash’s final album.
The Album
On July 4, 2006, American and Lost Highway released American V: A Hundred Highways, the final studio album made by Johnny Cash and his fifth produced by Rick Rubin. The album was released both on CD and vinyl. American V debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, becoming Cash's first #1 album since Man In Black topped the country charts in 1971.
The Band: 8.0
Johnny Cash: vocals
It’s immediately apparent that Cash was going down on this CD, so much so that the musicians who worked on the album were kept on call so they could record on the days John was feeling up to it. Cash’s voice still conveys that warm honesty and fragility that we’ve come to expect on his American CDs, but his body fails him on some tracks as you hear him struggling to hit notes at times.
Cash’s health, though, only adds to the legend of this album. Despite his condition, he continued to record these songs and continued to command each one, though only two tracks on the set are of his own writing. The raw emotion of Johnny Cash’s voice is overpowering at times, and this disc will do more than break your heart. It will amaze you at times.
It’s not known what was recorded after Cash’s death, but you would have to think that he would approve of Rubin’s arrangements on this disc. The regular players are here; Heartbreakers Mike Campbell (guitars) and Benmont Tench (keyboards) add their expertise, along with regulars Smokey Hormel, Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart and others. The album isn’t a stark acoustic set like American Recordings, but doesn’t rock like Unchained. Tempo-wise, it probably has more in common with Solitary Man than any of the others in the series. But the album’s personality is all its own. Between the simple flourishes, the warm acoustic guitars and, most importantly, Johnny Cash’s broken but still legendary vocal work, American V stands tall next to its well-crafted brothers.
The Songs: 9.5
1. Help Me
2. God’s Gonna Cut You Down
3. Like The 309
4. If You Could Read My Mind
5. Further On Up The Road
6. On The Evening Train
7. I Came To Believe
8. Love’s Been Good To Me
9. A Legend In My Time
10. Rose Of My Heart
11. Four Strong Winds
12. I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now
You won’t be putting this record on at a party. The songs are more or less obsessed with death and the twilight years. The subject matter is understandable and practically expected given Cash’s state when it was recorded. But the album’s single-mindedness is, again, part of its charm, and places it definitively at the end of a brilliant recording career.
“Help Me” is a slow and sad opener, with Cash pleading to God for help in some unnamed, insurmountable situation. The problems are his own, but we’ve all been there before. The song is kind of slow to be an opener, but is instantly made up for with the powerful “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, a biting cautionary song that features an inspired thumping drumbeat and Cash’s apocalyptical lyrics. From other artists, such a tune may sound almost self indulgent, but when Cash sings “He called my name and my heart stood still/When He said, John, Go do My will!” you can’t help but believe It and be affected.
The songs that deal directly with death vary on this set. “Like The 309” is the final song Cash wrote, and it deals with the end of life in an almost humorous light, taling about loading Cash and his "box" up for his final ride. “On The Evening Train”, a Hank Sr. cover, deals with the death of a wife and mother and, I’ll warn you right now, if you don’t at least feel tears behind your eyes, you have absolutely no soul.
Cash adds a morbid touch to several of the covers on here. Bruce Springsteen’s “Further On Up The Road” becomes a sort of goodbye to this side of living, while “I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now” adds a good riddance. The cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” is so heartbreaking and raw that, even with Cash’s croaked vocals, it easily surpasses the original to become the definitive version of the tune.
There are a few missteps here. “Rose Of My Heart” is a silly bit of filler and “A Legend In My Time” feels like a vocal track that wasn’t really done when Cash passed away but was built upon anyway. The songs flow well with the album, though, and still manage provide some of its lighter moments.
In all, if this music truly represents the last of what Cash left behind, one has to wonder if he and Rick Rubin ever sat down and made a bad song. If not, it’s a shame they’ll never get the chance again.
The 411: American V: A Hundred Highways is truly Johnny Cash’s last will and testament. His vocals are powerful, even in his failing health, and the music is beautiful and inspired. The album is a little single-minded in its theme (death), but never manages to sound redundant as each track gives things its own slant, from gallows humor to wistful reminiscence to heartbreaking despair. Amazingly, the only depressing aspect of American V is the fact that it’s the last we’ll hear from Johnny Cash on this side of heaven.
