Johnny Cash / AMERICAN 3 – SOLITARY MAN

180 Gram Vinyl with Download

For younger generations of musicians, having their song cut by Johnny Cash must be a little like scaling the washington monument. On his third album for producer Rick Rubin’s American label, Cash makes Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down sound like a companion classic to I Walk the Line. He transforms U2’s One into a sturdy testament of plainspoken faith, while he plumbs the netherworld of Nick Cave’s The Mercy Seat and Will Oldham’s I See a Darkness. amid more familiar fare (including Neil Diamond’s title track), the album’s sing-along standout is the deadpan, down-and-out, talking blues of Nobody. Cash’s recent originals have the age-old purity of appalachian music, while the traditional closing of Wayfaring Stranger offers bittersweet benediction. Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, and June Carter Cash provide vocal cameos.