American Recordings

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2024: #22 A comeback album (39th album)

As is with most artists who come around to reaching the "tombstone" era of their career, Johnny Cash seemed like the artist who had nothing else to give the crowd, given that his 80s era was filled with albums of highly questionable quality (save for The Highwaymen collaboration, which is a shining beacon of light compared to the rest).

Rick Rubin distilled everything Johnny was. He wasn't called The Man in Black for nothing, this is the stuff of a man who has seen everything in life, from love to heartbreak, and from life to death. And he sings about it here in the purest form with only an acoustic guitar, and he does well. His voice is as good as it was in the 50s and 60s, having that emotional quality age like fine wine. The only gripe is that the entire album is done in the same fashion with very little change in atmosphere, but if you're into 40 minutes of stripped-down arrangements, this is the album for you.