Johnny Cash is best known for his work in the late 1950s through the 1960s, namely via hit country songs like “I Walk The Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues”.
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But like most musicians, Cash fell into a lull in his career after Columbia Records dropped him in the 1980s. He worked with Mercury Records for a few years, but his releases in the late 1980s and early 1990s were mostly unsuccessful. What brought him out of that funk was a collection of home recordings that changed the world of alternative country for the better.
On April 26, 1994, Johnny Cash shocked the world of country music when he dropped American Recordings with the help of producer Rick Rubin.
It was a risky and surprising move. Def American Recordings, Rubin’s label, was best known for producing heavy metal and rap music. They weren’t really a country label. Still, Rubin approached Cash after seeing him perform in 1992, citing his belief that Cash deserved a comeback.
The Lasting Power of ‘American Recordings’ by Johnny Cash
Naturally, Cash was skeptical. However, after bonding for a while, Cash was given quite a bit of creative control over the record. In fact, American Recordings was Cash’s first solo record without any featured musicians other than himself.
The majority of the album was recorded in Cash’s cabin in Tennessee, though some of it was recorded in Rubin’s Los Angeles home studio. It’s wild to think that such a simple, stripped-down record would be almost universally acclaimed upon its release.
So, what really makes American Recordings so good? I’d say it comes down to the sheer variety of covers that Cash takes on with his well-aged, haunting voice. He defied expectations of country music by taking on covers of non-country songs. Though, there are plenty of classic country tunes on the album. Cash covers “Why Me Lord” by Kris Kristofferson and the cowboy folk tune “Oh, Bury Me Not” beautifully.
Still, there are some wild cards on this album. Cash covers punk songs like “Thirteen” by Danzig and alternative tunes like “Down There By The Train” by Tom Waits with nothing but his voice and an acoustic guitar. It’s pure, unabashed alternative country music in its finest form.
American Recordings was a huge success, and it’s still critically acclaimed, decades after it was released. That risky record led to five more albums in the series, each of which marked a glorious end to a glorious career.
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