‘Songwriter’ Features Previously Unheard Johnny Cash Originals: Review
by Jeff Burger
Johnny Cash’s outsized reputation as a performer makes it easy to forget that he was also an accomplished songwriter. He authored (or in a few cases co-authored) nearly half the numbers on the 75-track The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983, for example, including “I Walk the Line,” a top 20 pop hit in 1956 that also reached #1 on the country charts. Among Cash‘s other original creations are such well-known tunes as “Hey, Porter,” “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town.”
Cash’s own compositions are the focus of the new Songwriter, which resulted after his son, John Carter Cash, discovered recordings of 11 self-penned numbers that his dad had made in 1993 but never released. The younger Cash stripped out everything but his father’s vocals and acoustic guitar, and then invited several musicians to embellish various tracks. Among the contributors are Vince Gill, who adds vocals on one song, and guitarists Marty Stuart and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.
The album is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The album incorporates a few clunkers, such as the overblown “Hello Out There,” but it includes more winners than losers. One standout is “I Love You Tonight,” a touching—and lilting—valentine to Cash’s wife, June Carter Cash. Another is “She Sang Sweet Baby James,” about a young woman who lulls her baby to sleep by singing James Taylor’s song.
But the best track might be “Well, Alright,” an upbeat, lighthearted ditty that reminds us Cash wasn’t always the serious Man in Black. (This is, after all, the guy whose biggest hit was Shel Silverstein’s comical novelty number, “A Boy Named Sue.”) The song, which tells of a romance that started in a laundromat, employs lots of deft wordplay and is bound to leave you smiling.
Related: The story behind Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue”
A top editor at leading consumer and trade magazines for more than 40 years, Jeff has interviewed dozens of musical luminaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tommy James, Tom Waits, the Righteous Brothers, and the members of Steely Dan.
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