Johnny Cash: The Songs

Johnny Cash’s voluminous recordings rank as some of the best in country music history. Hundreds of his songs, including ‘I Walk The Line’, ‘Five Feet High and Rising’, ‘Don’t Take Your Guns to Town’ and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ are among the bedrock of the country music canon. Cash’s songs tell stories – in his unmistakable tragicomic voice – that most writers can’t tell in 500 stories of hope, despair, vengeance, lust, God greed, violence, repentance and love. Up to the days directly preceding his death in September 2003, Cash continued to write and release acclaimed albums. His latter-day recordings garnered two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award, while his final studio album, American IV, went gold in the US – confirming the allegiance of his fans, particularly young ones. His collaborations with producer Rick Rubin and American Records built bridges between generations and transcended musical styles. On these albums, Cash worked with contemporary rock singers including Nick Cave and Joe Strummer, and covered songs by acts as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, Beck and Depeche Mode. With the ‘American Recordings’ series, Cash found thousands of young, loyal listeners who otherwise wouldn’t consider themselves fans of country music. Johnny The Songs is an unprecedented collection of lyrics penned by ‘The Man in Black’ throughout a career which spanned six decades. It confirms Cash’s legendary status as an icon in music and excellently demonstrates why he is now regarded by many as one of the world’s great poets.