Man in black releases covers from the grave

More than six years after his death, Johnny Cash will return to record stores with a new album featuring one of the last songs the country legend ever wrote, reports MiNDFOOD.

American VI: Ain’t No Grave, billed as the final instalment in a series of comeback recordings overseen by producer Rick Rubin, will be released on February 26, the 78th anniversary of Cash’s birth, a spokeswoman for Rubin said.

As with its predecessors, Ain’t No Grave is heavy on acoustic covers, including tunes written by Sheryl Crow and Kris Kristofferson as well as a gospel number previously covered by Bob Dylan.

Cash himself contributed, I Corinthians: 15:55, a song he wrote during his last three years. He died on September 12, 2003 after years of poor health, and just four months after his wife, June Carter Cash.

In 2006 he topped the US pop album chart with American V: A Hundred Highways.

The American Recordings series kicked off in 1994 after Rubin rescued Cash from a creative and commercial lull.

Their critically acclaimed collaborations garnered six Grammys and delivered a whole new generation of fans enticed by mournful covers of tunes by the likes of Beck, Nick Cave, Neil Diamond and Depeche Mode.

His biggest success was with Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt, whose heartbreaking video served as a final farewell.

The track listing for Ain’t No Grave includes Crow’s Redemption Day and Kristofferson’s For The Good Times, as well as Joe ‘Red’ Hayes and Jack Rhodes’ A Satisfied Mind, the opening track on Dylan’s unloved 1980 album Saved.

Cash also covered Tom Paxton’s Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound, Bob Nolan’s Cool Water, and Queen Lili’uokalani’s Aloha Oe.

He dusted off Ed McCurdy’s anti-war Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream, which also appears on his 1969 concert recording At Madison Square Garden.

Reuters

2010 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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