Product Description
-------------------
The album is a continuation of the highly popular and critically
accled series of American s produced by Rick Rubin.
AMERICAN V contains 12 tracks and includes one Johnny original,
"Like 309," the last song that Cash wrote and recorded before he
died.
Review
------
Captures a man of hard-won grace whose fire burned bright even
as it was being snuffed out. -- New York Post - 4 Stars
Cash makes it clear that the prison he always sang about was his
mortal body and the world. -- Rolling Stone - 4 Stars
Cash's voice...filled with conviction and fire. He sounds like a
man testifying before God at his own funeral. -- Interview
Magazine - Sound Advice - July 2006
His final work echoes his first....sets out a road for one
final highway. -- USA Today - 3 1/2 out of 4 Stars - 7/3
It's as if his voice has reached from beyond the grave, having
found sweet liberty in the afterlife. -- People - Critics Choice
- 4 Stars
Recorded before his death three years ago, Johnny Cash's latest
shows he still has the power. -- Entertainment Weekly - A-
This is exactly how he deserves to be remembered. -- Esquire -
August 2006
You get the feeling Cash took a hard look at death, smiled
slightly and went on to the next song. -- The Tennessean - 4
Stars
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About the Artist
----------------
In the months leading up to his passing on September 12, 2003,
JOHNNY CASH had been new material with producer Rick
Rubin. On July 4, 2006, "American V: A Hundred Highways," the
all-new Johnny Cash album taken from those sessions, will be
released on the American s label through Lost Highway.
It will include the last song Cash ever wrote.
Two original Cash compositions are featured, "Like the 309" and
"I Came to Believe." "Like the 309" is the last song Cash wrote
and, like his first recorded single, 1955's "Hey Porter," is a
song that incorporates one of his favorite settings, trains:
"Everybody take a look/See I'm doin' fine/Then load my box/On the
309." "I Came to Believe" is a song he wrote and originally
recorded earlier in his career, and addresses the pain of
addiction and connecting to a higher power.
"I think that 'American V' may be my favorite of all of the
albums in the American series," said Rubin. "It's different from
the others, it has a much different character. I think that this
is as strong an album as Johnny ever made."
The months following the May, 2004 passing of his wife June
Carter Cash, were among the most physically and emotionally
painful times in Cash's life, but keeping focused on the
of "American V: A Hundred Highways" proved to be his
salvation. Rubin remembers, "Johnny said that was his
main reason for being alive, and I think it was the only thing
that kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to."
Cash and Rubin began the songs that would find their
way onto "American V: A Hundred Highways" in 2002, specifically
on the day after they finished "American IV: The Man Comes
Around" which was released that November. Johnny feared that
"American IV" might be his last release, so Rubin suggested that
he immediately begin writing and new material. Over the
next eight months, songs were cut at Rubin's Los Angeles studio
and in Nashville at Johnny's main home and at his fabled cabin
located across the road. Due to Cash's frail , Rubin
arranged for an engineer and guitar players to always be on call
for the days that Cash felt strong enough to work.
"He always wanted to work," said Rubin. "Every morning when he'd
wake up, he would call the engineer and tell him if he was
physically up to working that day. Our main concern was to get a
great vocal performance. Johnny would record a song, send it to
me and I would build a new track up under it. In the past, at the
end of this process, he'd come to L.A. And we'd go through
everything together, he would re-record any vocal bits that
needed re-. But this time, we didn't have that
rtunity."
"With all of the albums Johnny and I made together, our goal was
for each one to be the best it could possibly be, and that
remained the case with 'American V,'" Rick explained.
"We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to
the end," said Rubin. "It felt like he was directing the
proceedings, and I know that the musicians all felt that as well.
Almost all of the songs were cut solely to Johnny's original
vocal tracks, the musicians all keyed off his voice and were
playing to him, supporting the emotion of his performance. More
than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny
would love this,' because it was so good and so different from
anything we'd done before, we knew he would be excited by what
was happening."
It was decided to wait to release "American V: A Hundred
Highways" until the recent Cash hubbub had run its course. What
separates this album from the re-packages, compilations, movie
soundtracks and everything else that has surfaced since Johnny's
passing is, according to Rubin, "These songs are Johnny's final
statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that was
central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny
wanted us to hear."
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