Johnny Cash is one of the most influential artists in the history of music.
The Man in Black’s musical career appeared to be over with his death.
But new Johnny Cash music is on the way after this shocking discovery.
A new stash of unreleased Johnny Cash music found
Country music legend Johnny Cash passed away at the age of 71 in 2003.
His genre-spanning career of nearly five decades saw him produce hits in country, gospel, rock and roll, blues, and folk.
And he became one of the rare artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll, Gospel, and Country Music Hall of Fame.
Now 11 unreleased songs from Cash are being released this summer on the album Songwriter.
He recorded the songs in 1993 but never released them to focus on his work with producer Rick Rubin.
Songwriter is being produced by David Ferguson and John Carter Cash, his son with June Carter Cash.
The first song on the album, “Well Alright,” is a track about love at a laundromat.
John Carter Cash said that he tried to keep the sound as authentic to his father as possible.
“We just went rudimentary,” Cash said in a news release. “We went straight to the roots, as far as the sound, and tried not to overly enhance it. We built as if dad was in the room. That’s what we tried to do. Between the both of us, Fergie and I have spent thousands of hours with dad in the recording studio, so we just tried to act like he was there: WWJCD, right?”
New album is a tribute to Johnny Cash’s songwriting ability
Carter Cash added that he wanted to highlight his dad’s songwriting with the new album.
“I wanted it to be songs that mostly people hadn’t heard and that paid close attention to who he was as a songwriter and who he was as an American voice,” Cash explained. “One of my most important focuses in the past 10 years […] is to give history the opportunity to notice him as the great writer he is. I want to put that in the forefront. His writing voice specifically is a certain voice, that I think if America wants to know their history, that’s a good place to look.”
The late country great Waylon Jennings, country star Vince Gill, former Cash band member Marty Stuart, and The Black Keys’ guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach are featured on the album.
Carter Cash said that he hoped the album would help new fans discover his dad’s music.
“It’s not about selling Johnny Cash, he would be doing that himself,” Cash added. “I’m grateful that this record is here, even if it was only for me, because it reminds me of who my father was, and I do believe there are people out there that knew him on somewhat of a level that I did, that will be just as touched.”
Fans will be able to pick up the album when it’s released on June 28 and hear some new tracks from The Man in Black.