American VI: Ain't No Grave

It's been seven years since Death took Cash from us. But the Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash sessions (1993 - 2003) still echo like a gravside conversation.  The American Recordings series has been described as ingenious, poetic, simple & unadorned; but the label that is most often used and easily fits best: haunting. This latest album, 'American VI: Ain't No Grave', brings us even deeper into the austerity of the Man in Black's final weeks.  Painful as it is pure: we hear a lonely man in a chair with his guitar. . .with very little studio production hiding the sincerity of the work. Johnny's voice has become breath.  His once spirited guitar work sometimes thins to a tremble. But this album is not a ghostly tribute to a once great man.  This album is an extension of the life, and the strength of character, that made Johnny Cash an American icon.

Just as the grave surely waits, Cash consistently brings his maker into the conversation.  I don't know if Johnny ever steered a path towards salvation.  But after listening to this record I'm left with the impression that he endeared himself to the idea of heavenly eternity. . .if possibly not the innevibility. Whether or not Johnny Cash had made peace with his personal Jesus; on the title track of American VI he croons of angels like they're his neighbors.  I hear a smile in his eyes as he suggests that his soul is heaven-bound. And I get the sense that he's pulling our leg.

I see a band of angels: and they're comin' after me

On the cover of Sheryl Crow's Redemption Day, Cash, never too frail to call-out the evils of the "powers that be", lays out the real-time obstacles that may block an immediate entrance into the pearly gates.

Was there no oil to excavate
No riches in trade for the fate
Of every person who died in hate
Throw us a bone, you men of great

And Cash continues to wage gentle protest against the current state of affairs: singing a heartening version of the anti-war folk classic Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream.

And although the album is heavy with hymns and politcal leanings; American VI is not just a dying man's prayer or last-ditch rally cry.  Rubin has coaxed another gorgeous collection or grim baritone lullabies from Cash that include a mix of folk tunes, pop songs, country standards and even a traditional Hawaiian ballad. Sure, this is a work of pain. And there are moments of sadness.  But where you expect to uncover only despair: you will be delighted to discover hope.




Johnny Cash music