JOHNNY CASH
American V: A Hundred Highways
American
· A painful goodbye.
Getting fully into Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways takes time. Given the recent release of Personal File, a two-disc collection of Cash’s 1970s recordings compiled in diary-style for his own remembrance, A Hundred Highways comes along as a dark-shrouded counterpoint. Where the man behind Personal File was recording for the sake of documenting songs and memories he wanted to preserve for himself and his family, A Hundred Highways captures the sound of a man facing death square in the eye.
Be it the begging pleas of "Help Me" or Cash’s final songwriting credit "Like the 309" ("bury my box on the 309," he asks), the ghost of finality hangs over A Hundred Highways. Free of any stunt-style covers (the American series already being home to Cash renditions of Soundgarden, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and Nine Inch Nails), A Hundred Highways looks towards like--minded songsmiths like Ian Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot and Hank Williams. Lightfoot’s "If You Could Read My Mind’s" chorus send-off "You won’t read that book again / because the ending’s just too hard to take," adds an all new weight, while "I’m Free From the Chain Gang Now" closes the last album of Cash’s life as a perfectly-suited hymnal aching for freedom.
We all know everyone dies sooner or later. Cash’s strong-willed exit from life, caught on tape on A Hundred Highways, while initially daunting, comes to play off into the sunset as a warm, comforting and, most importantly, humane farewell.
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