Johnny Cash - Ain’t No Grave

I idolize Johnny Cash. So much so that I drink tea exclusively from a cup emblazoned with his image. This is the level my obsession has reached.

Despite being a country artist his life is the quintessential rock and roll story. Most people know the story from Walk The Line but where that film ends is where things get really interesting. The 70’s and 80’s were a lean period with critical and commercial success in short supply. By the dawn of the 90’s he was just another washed up country star, trading on past glories with little or no appeal to modern audiences.

Enter Rick Rubin.

Rubin was the founder of Def Jam Records. As a producer he had worked mostly with rap and rock acts such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Slayer, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Public Enemy. In 1993 Rubin renamed the label American Recordings and made a new album of the same name by Cash its first major release.

American Recordings marked a renaissance. Success, both critical and commercial followed. Cash was revitalized and three more albums were released before his death in 2003.

In 2006 “A Hundred Highways”, the fifth album of the American Recordings series was released posthumously. It contained songs he had been working on following the death of his wife, June Carter and leading up to his own death. Given his failing health and personnel loss the album understandably deals mostly with death, love and religion.

Last month another album of new material was released to coincide with what would have been Cash’s 78th birthday. The songs of “Ain’t No Grave” are taken from the same sessions as “A Hundred Highways” and continue in the same vein as the previous release.

It’s impossible for me to be impartial about this album given my love for his previous work. If you are not familiar with the American Recordings then start with Volume One and work your way through. If you’re not a fan by this, the sixth and final album, I will give you your money back. ^{Please Note: I won’t actually give anyone their money back.}

If you are a fan, chances are you will love this album. His music has always felt personal, more like a conversation than a performance and through it we felt we knew the man. Here we sit with Cash in his final weeks as he faces his own mortality and comes to terms with impending death. It is a sometimes haunting experience with songs like “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound”, “Redemption Song” and “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” doing little to disguise the issues he was dealing with at the time. However even at the end of his life that old defiance still shines through, Cash boldly declaring “ain’t no grave can hold my body down” on the title track.

I don’t know if we will see more new material emerge in the coming years but a part of me hopes that we don’t. Releasing music after an artist’s death can be a tricky affair. Sometimes unfinished songs and albums are best left unfinished but inevitably when there is money to be made someone will look to take advantage. “Ain’t No Grave” feels like a fitting final chapter to the American Series and to Cash’s career, a fitting epitaph for the man in black.