On This Day in 2006, Unreleased Johnny Cash Songs Become His 92nd Album, ‘Personal File’

Johnny Cash‘s 92nd album Personal File released on May 23, 2006. The posthumous record contained 49 previously unreleased tracks that were discovered at his studio. These tracks were recorded between 1973 and 1982.

Videos by American Songwriter

Cash’s son discovered the recordings in a vault at the House of Cash studios. Among the tracks were Tin Pan Alley songs, new originals, and covers of Cash’s favorites. These included songs by the Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, Johnny Horton, John Prine, Rodney Crowell, and Carlene Carter.

Personal File received favorable reviews when it was released. Pitchfork awarded it an 8.5 out of 10, while The Guardian gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Meanwhile, Slant gave the album 5 stars.

However, it didn’t chart very high at the time. In the U.S., it reached no. 108 on the Billboard 200 and no. 22 on the Top Country Albums chart. In the U.K., it went to no. 84. Its highest chart placement was actually on the German Top 100 chart, where it reached no. 18.

Johnny Cash Releases Posthumous Album of Stripped-Down Acoustic Recordings From the 70s and 80s

The recordings from Personal File are bare-bones compositions. Johnny Cash accompanied himself on the acoustic guitar, and created poetry and stories just with his recognizable baritone and a simple guitar.

In 2004, a year after Cash’s death, his son John Carter Cash and producer Gregg Geller went through the House of Cash offices. They cataloged and organized the material there, which is when they found the unreleased recordings.

“Periodically, I would come across a white tape box with the House of Cash label on it that said ‘Johnny Cash, Personal File,’” said Geller to Rolling Stone in 2006. “My sense is he had a concept album in mind, and these tapes were the beginning of that process.”

“I knew there was treasure there,” John Carter Cash told the outlet about House of Cash. “But specifics—that was the mystery of it. My father was creative until the very end of his life. He was genius wherever he went, whatever he did. Luckily, there was a place where this stuff was set aside.”

Featured Image by Al Clayton/Getty Images