Johnny Cash’s Songwriter certainly arrives unexpectedly as one of 2024’s biggest surprises. Most of us assumed that after Cash’s passing in 2003, just about anything worthwhile in his catalog had been issued. Yet, during a lull between contracts and before the famous Rick Rubin recordings that revitalized Cash’s career, Cash recorded an album’s worth of demos at LSI Studios in Nashville of songs that he’s written for over 40 years. However, once he met Rubin these songs, all but two of them were shelved. Cash may be known to many, certainly through those Rubin years, as a purveyor of cover songs, but his son, John Carter Cash, who rediscovered these songs that had full band instrumentation, stripped them down to just his dad with an acoustic guitar. So, the thrust here is to present Cash as a vital songwriter. Hence the album title.
John Carter Cash felt the original sound quality was lacking, and the sonics were outdated. Only three of these songs, “Drive On” and “Like A Soldier,” had appeared on the first Rubin American Recordings album. “Sing It Pretty Sue,” though, is over 60 years old. Teaming with co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, who had produced Cash for 30 years, they recruited a new band that had played with The Man in Black. The guitarist Marty Stuart was an obvious choice, as was the late bassist Dave Roe. Average White Band drummer Pete Abbott rounded out this select group who gathered at Cash Cabin to give these tracks a new, refurbished sheen. Many other guests appeared as the project gained momentum. They included Ana Cristina Cash and Harry Stinson (background vocals), Matt Combs (various strings), Mike Rojas (B3 organ, piano), Russ Pahl (guitars, bass, dobro, steel0, Sam Bacco (percussion. Cameo appearances by Grand Ole Opry guitarist Kerry Marz, Dan Auerbach on “Spotlight,” Vince Gill on “Poor Valley Girl,” and holdover on two of the original demos, Waylon Jennings on “I Love You Tonite” and “Like a Soldier.”
There’s already a buzz about the single “Well Alright,” a throwback rhythmically to Cash’s great hits in the ‘50s, such as “Five Feet High and Rising,” “Get Rhythm,” and “Big River.” It captures Cash’s humor as he speaks of finding love in the laundromat. Unrelated, it reminds me of Albert King’s “Laundromat Blues,” which flipped the script to a cheating song. The cosmic opener “Hello Out There” features Marty Stuart’s spacey, psychedelic guitar blending with pedal steel, heavenly backgrounds, and a weird gospel choir effect, not unlike Cash’s song with U2, “The Wanderer.” John Carter thinks his dad wrote it about the time the Voyager spaceship launched as per the refrains of “Calling, Calling, Calling” and “Falling, Falling, Falling.” In any case, that singular resonating voice we associate with Johnny Cash is a welcome surge of both nostalgia and comfort. Is there any singer that did more with such a limited vocal range?
“Spotlight,” featuring Auerbach’s bluesy solo, is about putting aside the emotions knowing that the performer needs to take the stage (“Let your magic velvet hue bather me in a gentle blue/Softly so there’s not a single tear in sight.”) The beginning of “Drive On” evokes the classic “Big Bad John” but the theme is much different as Cash is singing in a relatable way about the chronic pain suffered due to a broken jaw in the early ‘90s, taking a humbler approach as he thinks about the Vietnam vets suffering from PTSD. When hearing this and “Like A Soldier” on the Rubin recordings, the arrangements are vastly different. “Like a Soldier” is about his own battles with addiction, likening it to war terms, the substance abuse being the enemy.
The warm “I Love You Tonite” is for June Carter Cash, an upbeat sister song of sorts to the classic “I Still Miss Someone.” Stellar piano from Rojas and Jennings’ deep background vocals adds nice touches. “Poor Valley Girl” features harmonies from Vince Gill and is about both June and her mother, the pioneering Maybelle Carter. Cash’s gift for engaging melodies comes through in “Have You Been to Little Rock” and the tender “She Sang Sweet Baby James.” The most vintage-sounding tune Is “Sing It Pretty Sue,” penned in 1962 and appeared on The Sound of Johnny Cash.
The beauty is in the simplicity. If nothing else, this proves that Johnny Cash is irreplaceable. It’s both refreshing and sad to hear him again.
