Liner Notes

TBA

Info

Personnel

• Johnny Cash - Vocals, Guitar
• Martyn Atkins - Photography
• Norman Blake - Guitar
• Billy Bowers - Digital Editing
• Mike Campbell - Guitar
• John Carter Cash - Associate Producer
• June Carter Cash - Vocals (9)
• Laura Cash - Fiddle
• Lindsay Chase - Production Coordinator
• Danny Clinch - Photography
• David Coleman - Art Direction
• Sheryl Crow - Vocals (9), Accordion (12,14)
• Richard Dodd - Additional Engineering
• David Ferguson - Engineer, Mixing
• Merle Haggard - Guitar, Vocals & Guitar (13)
• Will Oldham - Vocals (6)
• Larry Perkins - Guitar
• Tom Petty - Vocals & Organ (1), Vocals (2)
• Lou Robin - Management
• Rick Rubin - Producer
• D. Sardy - Additional Engineering
• David Schiffman - Additional Engineering, Mixing (9)
• Eddie Schreyer - Mastering
• Randy Scruggs - Guitar
• Marty Stuart - Guitar
• Benmont Tench - Piano, Organ, Harmonium
• Chuck Turner - Digital Editing

Recorded:
Recorded at The Cash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, Tennessee and The Akademie Mathematique Of Philosophical Sound Research, Los Angeles, California.

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Info

AMERICAN III was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.  Johnny Cash went through a lot in the late 1990s and the year 2000: a debilitating nerve disorder put the brakes on his live performances and touring, yet with AMERICAN III: SOLITARY MAN, his spirit and abilities remain undiminished. His voice has taken on a slightly more gentle and reflective quality, and his association with producer Rick Rubin has afforded him the opportunity to choose, and write, songs that are worthy of him.

The Neil Diamond '60s pop hit "Solitary Man" is given an acoustic, spare reading, yet one can sense the demons of loneliness and frustration behind Cash's stoic delivery. Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" is an eerie, obsessive litany of the first-person musings and observations of an innocent man's time of execution. The Cash originals, like the proud yet wryly sarcastic "Country Trash" and devotional love song "Before My Time," let some light in. The overall sound of AMERICAN III: SOLITARY MAN is predominantly acoustic and intimate, with guitar, fiddle, piano, organ, and harmonium; guest stars Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, Tom Petty, and Norman Blake sound right at home with the Man In Black.

Lyrics

1. "I Won't Back Down" (Tom Petty/Jeff Lynne) – 2:09

   Originally recorded by Petty for Full Moon Fever (1989)

2. "Solitary Man" (Neil Diamond) – 2:25

   Originally recorded by Diamond as a single (1966)

3. "That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)" (Haven Gillespie/Harry Beasely Smith) – 2:35

   Originally a hit for Frankie Laine (1949)

4. "One" (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen) – 3:53

   Originally recorded by U2 for Achtung Baby (1991)

5. "Nobody" (Egbert Williams) – 3:14

   Originally recorded by Williams in 1906

6. "I See a Darkness" (Will Oldham) – 3:42

   Originally recorded by Oldham for I See a Darkness (1999)

7. "The Mercy Seat" (Nick Cave/Mick Harvey) – 4:35

   Originally recorded by Cave for Tender Prey (1988)

8. "Would You Lay with Me (in a Field of Stone)" (David Allen Coe) – 2:41

   Originally recorded by Tanya Tucker for the album of the same name (1974)

9. "Field of Diamonds" (Cash, Jack Routh) – 3:15

   Originally recorded by Cash and Waylon Jennings for Heroes (1986)

10. "Before My Time" (Cash) – 2:55
11. "Country Trash" (Cash) – 1:47

    Originally recorded by Cash for Any Old Wind That Blows (1973)

12. "Mary of the Wild Moor" (Dennis Turner) – 2:32

    Originally recorded by The Louvin Brothers for Tragic Songs of Life (1956)

13. "I'm Leaving Now" (Cash) – 3:07

    Originally recorded by Cash for Rainbow (1985)

14. "Wayfaring Stranger" (Traditional) – 3:19

    Old folk song previously recorded by countless artists