"Songwriter"

Johnny Cash: There is a new posthumous album

Immortal legend: Johnny Cash has shaped the (especially American) music world like no other.

(Bild: Norman Seeff)

Since Johnny Cash died in September 2003, four albums of his music have been released posthumously. More than two decades after the death of the "Man In Black", one might assume that all of his essential recordings have been released by now. But every now and then something old pops up. His son John Carter Cash discovered previously unreleased demo recordings from 1993, from which another Johnny Cash album was created.

"Songwriter" is the name of the new compilation with eleven songs. "Hello Out There", sings Johnny Cash in the atmospheric opening song of the same name and it almost seems as if he is reporting from the afterlife. The sound is unmistakably Cash. His charismatic voice was still powerful at the beginning of the 90s, but the country legend's career was flagging.

Shortly before the late new fame
Cash was not under contract with a record company and therefore had no contractual obligations when he recorded the original compositions he had written over the decades as demos. Shortly after these sessions, he began the iconic American Recordings series with star producer Rick Rubin, which revitalized his career. Apart from two songs, the demos were never used. Until now.

A few years ago, his son had already produced the album "Out Among The Stars" with unearthed sessions from the 80s. Carter Cash took a similar approach with "Songwriter". He dissected the recordings and reduced them to vocals and guitar. "In terms of the sound, we went back to basics," Carter Cash told the US magazine "Variety", "and tried not to over-optimize it. We built it like Dad was in the room."

Top-class comrades-in-arms
Carter Cash then invited his father's old companions and other musicians to his former home studio "Cash Cabin" in Hendersonville, Tennessee, to complete the songs. In addition to guitarist Marty Stuart, bassist Dave Roe, who died a year ago, and drummer Pete Abbott, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys and the 22 Grammy-winning country star and current Eagles musician Vince Gill were also involved in the completion of "Songwriter" - a top-class line-up.

"Songwriter" revives Cash's style of the 50s and 60s and later phases of his career. The music has the classic, distinctive Johnny Cash sound, and not just because of his unmistakable voice. Carter Cash brought in the renowned David Ferguson as co-producer. "Fergie" worked with Johnny Cash for more than 30 years and was involved in the sessions with Rick Rubin as a sound engineer until the end.

Humorous career chapters
But unlike the rather weighty, melancholic and sometimes melancholy Rubin works, "Songwriter" is light-hearted and humorous. The eleven songs have a lot of heart and a pinch of humor - for example, when Cash sings ambiguously in "Well Alright" about meeting a woman in a laundromat, which eventually turns into a marriage.

Posthumous releases are not without controversy. While some argue that what artists have not released themselves should not be thrown onto the market by others after the fact, others are happy that new music by a beloved artist is still being released years after their death. In the case of "Songwriter", the situation is more likely that the songs were not released at the time because record companies were not interested in the material and did not expect to make money from it. Presumably a classic album like this would hardly have attracted any attention at the time - before Johnny Cash's surprising comeback.

Making it available is okay
Things are different today, of course. Johnny Cash was an outstanding songwriter and musician. If, after so many years, almost a dozen largely unheard songs of this quality are still being released by him, we can be pleased with a clear conscience. Leaving the songs in the drawer would have been a waste.