American III: Solitary Man LP

For younger generations of musicians, having their song cut by Johnny Cash must be a little like scaling the Washington Monument. On his third album for producer Rick Rubin's American label, Cash makes Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" sound like a companion classic to "I Walk the Line." He transforms U2's "One" into a sturdy testament of plainspoken faith, while he plumbs the netherworld of Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" and Will Oldham's "I See a Darkness." Amid more familiar fare (including Neil Diamond's title track), the album's sing-along standout is the deadpan, down-and-out, talking blues of "Nobody." Cash's recent originals have the age-old purity of Appalachian music, while the traditional closing of "Wayfaring Stranger" offers bittersweet benediction. Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, and June Carter Cash provide vocal cameos. -Don McLeese Recorded at The Cash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, Tennessee and The Akademie Mathematique Of Philosophical Sound Research, Los Angeles, California. Includes liner notes by Johnny Cash. "Solitary Man won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. AMERICAN III was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. This reissue is an audiophile pressing on 180 gram vinyl.

Tracklist:

SIDE A

1. I Won't Back Down (Album Version)
2. Solitary Man (Album Version)
3. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) (Album Version)
4. One (Album Version)
5. Nobody (Album Version)
6. I See A Darkness (Album Version)
7. The Mercy Seat (Album Version)
8. Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) (Album Version)

SIDE B

9. Field Of Diamonds (Album Version)
10. Before My Time (Album Version)
11. Country Trash (Album Version)
12. Mary Of The Wild Moor (Album Version)
13. I'm Leavin' Now (Album Version)
14. Wayfaring Stranger (Album Version)