796 Johnny Cash - American V A Hundred Highways (2006)

Studio Album - Americana

About the Act:

Johnny Cash was an American Country singer, song writer and guitarist. His music career started in the 50s, and extended beyond his death in 2003, with several posthumously-released albums. His height of popularity was in the late 60s, and then a resurgence in the late 90s into the 2000s. He was known as "The Man In Black" after a line in one of his early songs, which inspired him to create the image, wearing all black on stage, in contrast to most country singers at the time who were wearing rhinestones and glitz. He famously recorded a couple of albums in concerts in jails: San Quentin and Folsom Prison. His well-known singles include Ring of Fire and I Walk The Line. He has produced a large number of albums, and sold a very large number of records. He is one of the most successful Country artists of all time.

I have a soft spot for Johnny Cash. In my mid-teens, as I was learning guitar, I was also in the early stages of buying records. My local record shop was selling albums by the then out of fashion Johnny Cash at 50p each, and I acquired several, including Live at San Quentin. I found them excellent to play along to on my guitar as they were quite simple musically.

About the Album:

This album was the 5th in a series of albums called American, this being the first of those to be released after his death. 

My History with this Album:

I have a copy and have listened a few times previously.

Review:

So this was Johnny Cash near the end of his life, and his voice is something special. He can hit notes fine, but time has changed his voice so that it has a a tremulous, fragile quality, which is highly effective, and which he uses to great advantage to bring pathos to these songs.

Most of these songs are covers, you might even know one or two (I knew If You Could Read Me Mind), and mostly Johnny does good justice to them, filling them full of acceptable sentiment, with the exception of one or two songs which are just too jarringly sentimental in a Country way (On The Evening Train in particular is too syrupy).

The arrangements suit the songs and voice well, kind of stripped back and warm, with little percussion and an intimate feel. This was something that seemed to be a thing at that time, it reminds me of Mule Variations by Tom Waits, and other similar albums of that time, like an understated living room jam session. I have labelled it as Americana rather than Country as the arrangements are wider in variety than classic Country, adding rock, blues and folk into the mix. 

All in all, I think it is an enjoyable album, and it is a shame that some of the songs cross that line of sentimentality into the "too much" that I feel characterises too much of Country. It's very accessible, mellow and melancholy.

7.2/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/16VJRQuM2mXHkuppi3SNAh

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxe6qrQlSv79JB4rasebzYyuSyQhMD1Xd

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_V:_A_Hundred_Highways