I've never really made much of a secret of the fact that, traditionally, I tend to root for older people--especially in entertainment and sports. This has been true ever since I was little. So many people my age would complain about the stories their grandparents would tell, but I was always fascinated by them. I never found them boring and loved hearing about how things were 50 years before I was even born.
I remember when I was in college and seeing news reports of Nolan Ryan pitching no-hitters and George Foreman winning heavyweight boxing championships--at the time, both were in their mid-40s--and thinking that was pretty awesome, especially for an athlete. Today, it's commonplace for star athletes to play as long as they possibly can. Just look at LeBron James. He's 41, which I still think of as old for someone in his profession. But in spite of that, he's still one of the best players of the game... and I don't even particularly like basketball!
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, artists like Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones were often looked at by the press as being a bit "old," but when I look at concert footage from that time, all I can think is how young they looked.
It seems hard to believe now, but around that same time, the legendary Johnny Cash had been kind of forgotten about by the music establishment. Sales of his albums had dropped off considerably starting in the 1970s.
After seeing him perform at Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert in 1992, the equally legendary producer Rick Rubin--founder of Def Jam Records and a man known for producing primarily rap and heavy metal music--felt that Cash, then in his early 60s, was still relevant. Rubin offered Cash a contract with his label, promising a lot of creative control. So began both a professional and personal partnership that lasted the rest of Johnny Cash's life.
And while only they knew what that relationship entailed, we all can still revel in what came out of it. Over the next decade, the two gave us one of the most celebrated series of albums ever produced, American Recordings.
For the first volume, released in 1994, Cash recorded for the first time with only his own guitar accompaniment. As he did on the rest of the series, he chose not only his own songs, but songs that he admired by other songwriters including Kris Kristofferson, Loudon Wainwright III, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and former stepson-in-law Nick Lowe.
Throughout the series, Cash took songs, many of which were written by hard rock artists, and made them distinctly his own--sometimes becoming more popular than the original versions.
This week, I wanted to highlight one of those albums which, for some reason, I find myself repeatedly playing. Released in 1996, this was the second of Johnny Casn's American series. While his first album featured only Cash's own guitar accompaniment, here he was backed by an actual band, specifically Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and Cash received a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage." (Personally, I like it because he does a great cover of one of my favourite country songs, "Sea of Heartbreak.") Featuring appearances by Marty Stuart, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Flea, please enjoy the one and only Johnny Cash with American II: Unchained.
Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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