Johnny Cash Still Has 4 or 5 Albums Worth of Music to Release
Tuesday was the release of Johnny Cash’s “lost” album Out Among The Stars that was discovered by Johnny’s son, John Carter Cash while organizing his father’s archived recorded material. Now according to the younger Cash, and legendary producer Rick Rubin who Cash worked with beginning in the mid 90’s during his American Recordings rebirth, there is still “four or five albums” worth of Johnny Cash material to be released. Though none of this material consists of cohesive albums like Out Among The Stars and is mostly the result of outtakes and alternative versions, it will be welcome by the loyal fans of the Man in Black whose appetite for Johnny’s music appears to be endless.
“There are a few things that are in the works right now,” John Carter Cash tells The Guardian. “Probably four or five albums if we wanted to release everything. There may be three or four albums worth of American Recordings stuff, but some of it may never see the light of day.”
Lots of material from Cash’s American Recordings era has already been released posthumously, including the last two installments in the album series: 2006’s American V: A Hundred Highways, and 2010’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave. Also a box set called Unearthed was released with outtakes and alternative versions a few months after Johnny’s passing in 2003. “We released the work we had been planning to release along with John [Carter Cash] and the idea of the ‘Unearthed’ boxset of outtakes was his idea,” says Rick Rubin. “We will probably put out additional ‘Unearthed’ material recorded since the last ‘Unearthed’ box, in keeping with John’s wishes.”
Along with American Recordings-era material, a 4-disc bootleg series of previous Johnny Cash material has also been released to the public posthumously, as well as expanded recordings from his legendary concerts at Folsom and San Quentin prisons. The sheer volume of material can be overwhelming for some fans wanting to put their ears on anything relating to Johnny Cash, but those still hungry for music from the Man in Black appear to be in store for new material for a while.
March 26, 2014 @ 9:48 am
I’ve really enjoyed the Bootleg series and hope it continues as long as they continue to find noteworthy things to put on them.
As for the rest of the American Recordings, I would hope they do one final box set, maybe call it Unearthed Volume 2, release all remaining recordings, and put a cap on that chapter of his career.
March 26, 2014 @ 12:41 pm
“As for the rest of the American Recordings, I would hope they do one final box set, maybe call it Unearthed Volume 2, release all remaining recordings, and put a cap on that chapter of his career.”
Agreed — I loved ‘Unearthed’ and wouldn’t mind seeing another box like that (as opposed to releasing the tracks 10-12 at a time as separate albums like ‘American V’ and ‘American VI’, which were fine but pretty much left me wanting more).
March 26, 2014 @ 9:44 pm
Has anyone else listened to a Johnny Cash album called ‘Personal File?’ I think it is now considered part of the bootleg series. I highly reccomend it to anyone.
March 27, 2014 @ 7:28 am
Yes, they’ve since relabeled it as Bootleg Vol. 1. It’s a great double album, stripped down recordings from the early 80’s reminiscent of the early American recordings, of just him and a guitar.
March 26, 2014 @ 10:05 am
Best news all week.
March 26, 2014 @ 10:30 am
I really enjoyed the first unearthed box set so the prospect of more is exciting. Some of it was so raw and real it was chilling very few if any have the gritty quality Cash had. It could be almost like the voice of God himself singing.
March 26, 2014 @ 11:29 am
I say Keep them coming!
March 26, 2014 @ 11:31 am
Haha Johnny Cash is the Tupac of country.
That’s cool news, though
March 26, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
John Carter Cash-In.
That being said, more Cash music is always a welcome addition to the musical landscape, though.
March 26, 2014 @ 11:34 pm
I thought Rubin had said previously that Ain’t No Grave would be the last of the American Recordings sessions to be released? Oh, well. Time might have slowly changed his opinion (or maybe dollar signs changed it overnight), either way, I’m excited to hear more. There was something magical about those Rubin-produced sessions that has caused a bias for me against Johnny’s more classic work, which is why I wasn’t all that excited about Out Among The Stars.
March 27, 2014 @ 10:57 am
You’re right he did say that, and I felt Ain’t No Grave stood as a good finale to the American series, in an always darkest before the dawn kind of way. Like I mentioned above, since I’m sure there is a lot more Rubin material left unreleased, it’d be cool to just release all at once as a big box set ala Unearthed and be done with it. Releaseing an American 7, 8 and 9 etc would start to diminish the perceived quality of the whole series.
January 16, 2015 @ 1:24 pm
When oh when will columbia release the Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan studio sessions? This would certainly be a #1 album. Not only do many fans love both artist but it would sell to each artists separate fan bases. Someone is really missing the boat here.