was not in a good place. Though generally recognised as a giant of popular music, possessing one of the great signature voices, he had no record contract, his career was in steep decline and his behaviour – not least his intermittent drug abuse – was seriously testing his storied relationship with his wife, the singerDuring this fallow period he recorded an album’s worth of demos of new and old material, all self-written.
Out went the band, the strings and the venerable country veneer. Rubin resurrected Cash’s career by stripping him back to voice and acoustic guitar, creating a mood of dark reflection personified by tracks such as Nick Lowe’s The Beast in Me and Trent Reznor’s Hurt. The American Recordings series of albums proved to be Cash’s last great musical stand before he died, in 2003. Johnny the entertainer became John the revelator.
“Nobody plays Cash better than Marty Stuart, and Dave Roe of course played with dad for many years,” Carter Cash said. “The musicians that came in were just tracking with dad, you know, recording with dad, just as, in the case of Marty and Dave, they had many times before, so they knew his energies, his movements, and they let him be the guide. It was just playing with Johnny once again.”
It is telling, however, that only two songs, Drive On and Like a Soldier, of the 11 on Songwriter survived Rubin’s selection process months later. This hybrid recording is more old-style in tone and content, with Stuart contributing emblematic twangy guitar. It also captures a Cash uneasy and unsure though still imbued with religion and patriotism, love for his wife and family, a touch of humour and empathy for the outsider .
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »