Thaindian News

New York City, Jan 14 (THAINDIAN NEWS) “American VI: Ain’t No Grave” is the name of the final studio album of Johnny Cash and it is all set to be released on his 78th birthday – 26th February. Rick Rubin produces this collection. And it consists of recordings they made together after finishing “American IV: The Man Comes Around” in 2002; Cash died on Sept. 12, 2003. It features a characteristically genre- and era-hopping batch of songs by Kris Kristofferson, Sons of the Pioneers’ Bob Nolan, Tom Paxton, Sheryl Crow and others.

In his chequered career Johnny Cash was attracted towards a wide variety of songs, lyricists that showed his unending pursuit of quality and substance. “”He loved talking about music. Since I met him, he was never particularly talkative. But if you drew him out, he knew about everything. He was a really wise man” Rubin about the legendary musician.

This new collection also includes an original song that Johnny Cash wrote during his final years, “I Corinthians: 15:55,” from the New Testament passage about the spirit ultimately triumphing over the physical body: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

This album was recorded in 2003, and less than four months before his death, 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.”