American VI: Ain't No Grave - Available Today!

Here's what the critics are saying:
“A” -Entertainment Weekly
“Still a powerful presence to the end” -People
“4 Stars”- The Independent
“Some guys just know the right way to say goodbye” –Billboard
“4 Stars” –The Sunday Times
“3.5 out of 4 stars” – The Chicago Tribune

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(at select stores, while supplies last)
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Don’t forget to wear black for Johnny’s birthday this Friday, 2/26/2010 & post your pictures.

Vinyl available 3/9/2010.

American VI: Ain't No Grave, the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series, will be officially released on February 26, 2010 (American Recordings/Lost Highway), the day that would have been The Man in Black's 78th birthday. As with the previous five albums in the American Recordings series, American VI was produced by Rick Rubin.

American VI is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges - the pursuit of salvation, the importance of friendships, the dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival. It is an achingly personal and intimate statement, as, from the end of the line, Johnny Cash looks back on a most extraordinary life.

The songs on American VI are drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow's moving "Redemption Day," close Cash friend Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan's "Cool Water," the hopeful "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream" by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes's "Satisfied Mind," Queen Lili'uokalani's song of farewell, "Aloha Oe," and the never before heard Cash original, "I Corinthians: 15:55," written over the last three years of his life.

American VI was recorded by Cash's long-time engineer, David "Fergie" Ferguson, and, as with its American V predecessor, tracked at the Cash Cabin Studio in Henderson, TN, and at Akadamie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound Research in Los Angeles, CA. Guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench, who played on all of the series' albums sans the first one, were joined in the studio by guitarists Matt Sweeney and Jonny Polonsky, as well as Smokey Hormel, who also played on American IV and V. In addition, The Avett Brothers' Scott and Seth made cameo appearances on the track "Ain't No Grave."

Cash and Rubin recorded many songs between the completion of American IV: The Man Comes Around in 2002 right up until September 12, 2003, the day Cash passed. Songs recorded during this time frame were released in 2006 as American V: A Hundred Highways, and now this final grouping of songs, American VI: Ain't No Grave, ends the series that began in 1994 with American Recordings.

During these sessions, in May of 2003, less than four months before he passed, Cash lost his wife June Carter Cash due to surgical complications. According to Rubin, "Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive. I think it was the only thing that kept him going."

Cash feared that American IV might be his last release, so Rubin suggested that he immediately begin writing and recording new material. Due to the artist’s frail condition, Rubin arranged for an engineer and guitar players to always be on call. “Every morning, when he’d wake up, he would call the engineer and tell him if he was physically up to working that day,” Rubin explains.

During those months, Rubin went to Nashville several times to record with Cash. After a particularly productive four days of sessions, the artist said to the producer, “Oh, this is great; please stay longer.” So Rubin canceled his return flight to L.A., only to get a call the next morning that Cash was back in the hospital. “So there was a lot of stopping and starting, based on his health,” says Rubin. “But he always wanted to work. The doctors in the hospital kind of lectured me, saying, ‘He’s not going to stop, so you have to make sure he doesn’t work too much.’”

Though Cash knew his days were short, “There was no fear,” Rubin says. “I remember speaking to him maybe an hour after June died. He was in the hospital, with her, and I’d never heard him so distraught. And he said, ‘You know, I’ve been through tremendous pain in my life, and I’ve never felt anything like this.’ It was so bad that I didn’t know what to say. He sounded so weak, so beaten, and I’d never really heard him like that before. I’m not sure where the question came from, but I said, ‘Do you feel like somewhere you can find faith?’ And when he heard that word, a switch went off in his head, and he answered in a strong voice, ‘My faith is UNSHAKABLE.’ And the conversation changed after that. So he had tremendous faith, he didn’t really have fear and he already was dealing with pain; I think he had acceptance. When he knew he was going to die, he was calm and matter of fact about it, and…that was it.”

"Ain't No Grave," the title track, speaks to the overall theme of the album - "Well there ain't no grave/Can hold my body down..." American VI may be his final album of new material, The Man in Black may no longer walk this Earthly realm, but through his music, thankfully, Johnny Cash is very much alive and well and living among us.


For more information on American VI: Ain't No Grave as well Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin's entire American Recordings Series, please click here.

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Greatest Hits Collection To Be Issued In Conjunction with Premiere Of I Walk The Line Feature Film About His Early Years

Johnny Cash passed away at age 71 on September 12, 2003 but his legend lives on. The first album to span his entire career, 1955-2003, The Legend Of Johnny Cash (Hip-O/Sony BMG/UMe)

^{Released October 25, 2005, will lead into the November 18th premiere of I Walk The Line, the 20th Century Fox film based on his early years and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who perform several of the collection’s songs.}

Featuring 21 of his recordings on the Sun, Columbia, Island and American Recordings labels, The Legend Of Johnny Cash is the first compilation to include his work on American. Also highlighting the package is a 16-page deluxe booklet with photos and essay by author Rich Kienzle.

His Sun Records tracks begin with his first single, "Hey, Porter"/"Cry! Cry! Cry!," a Country Top 20 penned by Cash and produced by Sam Phillips. Straddling country and rock ‘n’ roll, they scored in 1956 with the Top 10 Country "Folsom Prison Blues," #1 Country/Top 20 Pop "I Walk The Line" and #1 Country "Get Rhythm." Also heard from his Sun days are 1958’s "Big River" (#4 Country/Top 20 Pop) and "Guess Things Happen That Way" (#1 Country/Top 20 Pop).

Cash signed with Columbia in 1958 and five years later had a #1 Country/Top 20 Pop hit with "Ring Of Fire," a ballad co-written by June Carter, who in 1967 would duet with him on the #2 Country "Jackson" and later become his wife. In 1969, the live Johnny Cash At San Quentin yielded his biggest hit: Shel Silverstein’s novelty "A Boy Named Sue" (#1 Country/#2 Pop).

Kris Kristofferson composed Cash’s 1970 #1 Country hit "Sunday Morning Coming Down" while Cash himself composed his personal philosophy on 1971’s #3 Country "Man In Black," his nickname for the rest of his days. Also from his Columbia tenure are 1976’s "One Piece At A Time" (#1 Country/Top 30 Pop) and 1985’s "Highwayman" with Waylon Jennings and Kristofferson.

Cash joined Mercury in 1986 and The Legend Of Johnny Cash includes a track from that period titled "The Wanderer," a duet with U2 written by Bono and U2, taken from the group’s 1993 release Zooropa. That same year Rick Rubin, known for producing rap and rock acts, offered to record Cash singing whatever he chose. 1994’s American Recordings, including college radio favorite "Delia’s Gone," brought Cash to a new generation and won the Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy. On 1996’s Unchained, Cash brilliantly interpreted Soundgarden’s "Rusty Cage" as well as the Hank Snow classic "I’ve Been Everywhere" and copped the Grammy for Best Country Album. On 2003’s American IV: The Man Comes Around, he revisited old favorite "Give My Love To Rose" and gave new meaning to Nine Inch Nails’ "Hurt" (the video for "Hurt" was 6 times nominated at MTV’s 2003 VMA’s and also won a Grammy for "Best Short Form Music Video" that same year). From 2003’s posthumous box set Unearthed, The Legend Of Johnny Cash adds an early take on "The Man Comes Around."

Today, 50 years after his recording debut, Johnny Cash has taken his place among the immortals of American music.

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PRESS CONTACT: Sujata Murthy, UMe 310-865-7812

Todd Nakamine, UMe 310-865-7797

RADIO CONTACT: Elliot Kendall, UMe 310-865-9852

The Best of Johnny Cash's Mercury Recordings features "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town" and re-recordings of the classics "I Walk The Line," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Wanted Man."

The first person ever inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 1998, Elvis became only the second), Johnny Cash is the quintessential American artist.  After beginning at Sun Records and then nearly 30 years on Columbia, Cash signed to Mercury in the mid-'80s.  Though his stay would not be long, the best of his recordings for the label, many of them reprises of his greatest hits, are classic Cash.

The Best Of Johnny Cash: The Mercury Recordings edition of 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection (Mercury Nashville/UME), released May 21, 2002, brings together the highlights of his late '80s tenure with esteemed producer Jack Clement.  Each of the dozen selections has been digitally remastered.

John R. Cash joined Mercury in 1986 and his debut album for the label, Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town, appeared the following year.  From that album, The Best Of Johnny Cash features the country hit "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town," with its guest vocal by Waylon Jennings, co-penned by country rebel Bobby Braddock and Charlie Williams.

The follow-up later that same year was the aptly-titled Classic Cash, for which The Man In Black re-recorded many of his best-loved vintage tracks.  Included on The Best Of Johnny Cash are new versions of his signature Sun hits "Cry! Cry! Cry!," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk The Line" as well as his Sun-era "Home Of The Blues."  Also culled from Classic Cash are fresh takes on Columbia favorites "Tennessee Flat Top Box," "Get Rhythm," "I Still Miss Someone," "Long Black Veil" and "Blue Train."  On 1990's Boom Chicka Boom, Cash put his stamp on Harry Chapin's pop-folk hit "Cat's In The Cradle."  "Wanted Man" (co-written with friend and influence Bob Dylan) is taken from yet another disc of re-recordings, 1990's The Mystery Of Life.

Cash would exit Mercury but he was far from done.  His American Recordings albums have gained him further acclaim from yet another generation of fans.  In 1999, he received a much-belated Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  On February 26, 2002, he celebrated his 70th birthday.  The next day he won his 11th Grammy as one of the performers on Best Country Album Timeless, an all-star tribute to, who else, Hank Williams.

The series 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection features new "best of" albums from the most significant music artists of the past century.