J.R. Cash, Born February 26, 1932

[dbt]

:loveya:

[CBGLuthier]

1. 2 days ago, a song of his became the 10,000,000,000th song

to be downloaded from itunes.

He was a true original.

[AlecBGreen]

2. the greatest

[Zomby Woof]

3. American VI sounds promising too

Happy Birthday Johnny. :patriot:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. Went out with his boots on...

The Rolling Stone review of "American VI: Ain't No Grave," the latest release culled from his final recording sessions with Rick Rubin:

From 1993 until 2003, Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash produced a string of ingeniously simple music that set Cash's fathoms-deep baritone against a stark backdrop, turning him loose on grim, death-haunted Appalachian ballads, standards and rock songs of recent vintage.

Seven years after Cash's death, those sessions are still producing great albums. The latest of the Rubin-Cash American Recordings, built out of songs recorded in the months before Cash's death, alters the formula only by being even more unadorned. Songs like Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day," Bob Nolan's "Cool Water" and the benediction "I Corinthians 15:55" (one of Cash's last originals) strip away everything but the singer's voice and acoustic strumming, a discreet guitar overdub or two, and the most minimal dashes of piano, harpsichord and organ. This is Shaker furniture music, beautiful in its plainness and purity.

There were times that the American Recordings series veered uncomfortably close to what might be called morbidity kitsch, with black-and-white cover art and production, full of tolling bass-piano notes, that overplayed the doomy impending-mortality vibe. You can hear that Cash is closing in on the end on Ain't No Grave; his basso profundo thins out in spots to a ragged wheeze. And yet he is unmistakably sprightly and alive, delivering each song with a master-vocal stylist's gift for phrasing, and turning the Hawaiian standard "Aloha Oe" into a sly, sexy come-on. As for death, he sounds ready, not haunted. "There's one thing for certain, when it comes my time," he sings, "I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind."

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/32243054/review/32252877/american_vi_aint_no_grave

Happy Birthday, Man in Black.

:toast:

[Blue-Jay]

5. The Man In Black

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoFbCaydiGE

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.