A new posthumous album of previously unreleased material by Johnny Cash has been announced: Songwriter is due June 28 (via Mercury Nashville/UMe). Centered around original demos that Cash recorded in 1993 between contracts, the album strips down those recordings to just the country legend’s vocals and acoustic guitar, and then invites the musicians with whom he played—guitarist Marty Stuart, late bassist Dave Roe, and drummer Pete Abbott, among others—to flesh out the music. Listen to the lead single, “Well Alright,” below.
Songwriter was conceptualized and organized by John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash, who also co-produced the album with David Ferguson. “Nobody plays Cash better than Marty Stuart, and Dave Roe, of course, played with Dad for many years,” said John Carter. “The musicians that came in were just tracking with Dad, you know, recording with Dad, just as, in the case of Marty and Dave, they had many times before, so they knew his energies, his movements, and they let him be the guide. It was just playing with Johnny once again, and that’s what it was. That was the energy of the creation.”
Spanning 11 songs in total, the album focuses on Cash’s songwriting and the heart of his stories. In addition to the aforementioned musicians, Songwriter also features contributions from the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Vince Gill, Waylon Jennings, Ana Cristina Cash, Matt Combs, Mike Rojas, Russ Pahl, Sam Bacco, Kerry Marx, and Harry Stinson.
Three years ago, a rare live album by Johnny Cash, Bear’s Sonic Journals: Live at the Carousel Ballroom, 4/24/1968, was released. Recorded mere days before his iconic live album At Folsom Prison, the LP was performed in San Francisco at a venue run by members of Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
Read about At Folsom Prison at No. 58 in Pitchfork’s list “The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.”
