Vital art never rests

At this late date, it seems impossible that there could still be "lost" albums lingering in the vaults by musicians as important and successful as Johnny Cash and Paul McCartney.

- ROBERT BAIRD

And yet Universal Music has just released "new" albums by both artists that significantly add to their already hallowed recording catalogs.

In 1993, just prior to meeting producer Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash, who was then between record label deals, tracked an album's worth of demos in Nashville. Longtime Cash pal Waylon Jennings sang on two tracks. The idea was to shop all the recordings to record labels.

For Johnny Cash Songwriter, Cash's son John Carter Cash and longtime engineer David "Fergie" Ferguson preserved Cash's vocals from the original demos and added mostly lowkey modern backing. Friends and admirers of Cash, including guitarist Marty Stuart, bassist David Roe, and drummer Pete Abbott, recorded new instrumental tracks. The guest list of contributors recorded elsewhere and flown in includes vocalist Vince Gill, guitarist Mark Howard, string player Matt Combs, and The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, whose guitar solo on "Spotlight" gives the new album a touch of modern cool.

What immediately jumps out from this collection is the quality of the songs and what The Man in Black's crafty lyrics say about the man himself. While Cash's songwriting modes are familiar, and some modern backing tracks (like "Poor Valley Girl") work better than others, Cash's delivery is fresh and energized, and his lyrics as always are beyond compare. In "Drive On," one of Cash's detailed song stories, a Vietnam veteran comes home with mental and emotional scars. With "Like a Soldier," "Drive On" was later re-recorded for American Recordings, Cash's first release for Rick Rubin's eclectic label.