Johnny Cash’s songwriting is set to take center stage on new posthumous album Songwriter, which will be released on June 28. The first taster track, Well Alright, just dropped today.
This collection contains music recorded by Cash in early 1993, while he was in between record deals. Fast-forward 30 years, and his son, John Carter Cash, rediscovered the songs.
“Dad’s advice with anything, whether it was life or making music, was always ‘follow your heart,’” said Carter. This guiding principle led Carter to strip the recordings back to Cash’s vocals and guitar. Together with co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, he reached out to the key musicians who would give life to the album.
The 11-track record features contributions by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who provided a bluesy guitar solo on the track Spotlight.
It also features close Cash collaborator Marty Stuart, who played with Cash in his backing band The Tennessee Three from 1980 to 1988, and Dave Roe, another close collaborator who went on to play bass on hundreds of albums before he died in 2023.
“Nobody plays Cash better than Marty Stuart, and Dave Roe of course played with Dad for many years,” said 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.”
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The full tracklisting is below:
Hello Out ThereSpotlightDrive OnI Love You ToniteHave You Ever Been to Little Rock?Well AlrightShe Sang Sweet Baby JamesPoor Valley GirlSoldier BoySing It Pretty SueLike A Soldier
For Carter, Songwriter is all about putting the spotlight back on Cash.
“It’s not about selling Johnny Cash, he would be doing that himself,” he says.
“Bob Dylan says he’s one of the greatest writers of all of American written music and I agree. I want to put that in the forefront. His writing voice specifically is a certain voice, that I think if America wants to know their history, that’s a good place to look. Johnny Cash is definitely one true voice that we can listen to, specifically to his writings.”
Songwriter is available to preorder now.
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