CASH

CASH

The Man Comes Around

There are a few things in this world which are immediately and unarguably majestic. The Grand Tetons rising over Yellowstone. The San Juan Range of the Rocky Mountains. An American eagle in flight. The first site of Yosemite Valley when you pass through the tunnel. The rolling Great Plains. The mighty Pacific ocean. And the voice of Johnny Cash.

After more than a lifetime of making music that can alternately touch, anger, inspire, and enlighten, Johnny Cash returns to the studio to give us another collection of songs as only Johnny Cash can deliver them: with more heart and soul and pure emotion than any singer alive today.

"American IV: The Man Comes Around" is Johnny's first CD since the Grammy-award- winning "American III: Solitary Man" in 2000. It is a strange and delightfully eccentric collection of Cash originals and interesting covers that continues the Cash legacy with true style and class. With this disc, I received a little advertising flyer. All it reads, white letters on black, is "CASH." That's really all it needs to say. It's tough to say if this album will be embraced by either the hardcore country enthusiasts or the faux light-country mainstream; it may only appeal to hardcore Cash fans. But it seems that at his age, Johnny Cash is making music he likes for himself; it's a gift to himself and to anyone who simply loves music. It's not country, it's not rock, it's not folk, it's all of those things and more. It's Johnny Cash.

"The Man Comes Around" as a title seems to initially indicate the man himself, John R. Cash. But the song that opens this album is in truth a rather haunting tale of Death, the white horseman, done in a straightforward acoustic country style. Written by Cash, it speaks to everyone. No one can do a thing to prevent it when "the man comes around." Cash's voice, that majestic sound, has not been untouched by time. He slurs words a little, his tone wavers a trifle. But he is no less awe-inspiring because of it; perhaps he is more so. A simple acoustic guitar accompaniment showcases that voice, giving the entirety a classic beauty, a timeless sound. It is no less true for the rest of this powerful album.

What surprises on this disc more are Johnny's choices of covers. As with "Solitary Man," he chooses from every branch of music. From alt-rock sounds such as Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" to modern folk ballads such as the classic Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and ancient ones such as "Danny Boy" and "Streets of Laredo," Johnny travels across genres with extreme grace and elegance. He also reaches into his own bag, re-doing his own beautiful "Give My Love To Rose" and the dark humor of "Sam Hall."

As strange as some of the song choices seem, somehow they all work. It seems that Johnny Cash can sing anything he wants, and he's reached an age where it's hard to argue that, even when considering Sting's "I Hung My Head" (a song so very Cash it could have been on "Murder" with no problem at all) and "Desperado" (where he's joined by Don Henley).

But of all the songs on this album which raise gooseflesh and send chills of delight up the spine, the one that seems to touch deepest, the one that simply moved me to awed silence, was Johnny's cover of The Beatles' "In My Life." The song has long been one of my favorites, a song of surprising depth and clarity when one considers how young Lennon/McCartney were when they wrote it; here, sung by a man who has lived a hard, long, and incredible life, it is remarkably, amazingly poignant. The song becomes everything it was meant to be in Cash's hands, touching the heart and the soul with every nuance of its deeper meaning. This is what music was made for.

Every song on this album is powerful. It's an amazing collection, an amazing listen. It's difficult to find all the proper words to describe its simplicity, its majesty, its sheer brilliance. I guess the best thing to say is just: CASH.

Kathy Coleman Take Country Back September 2002

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