And when I'm gone, just carry on, don't mourn. Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice.

I can't imagine Johnny Cash and Eminem would be close pals, something to do with one being a people loving transcendent voice and the other being a people hating self absorbed prick. However, I think Johnny would have understood certain moments n Marshall Mathers' music, like this chorus from his song When I'm Gone. The link will take you to the article I used primarily for this blog.


Two new releases from Johnny were announced this month!

This month, May 23 to be exact, a collection of recordings Johnny did at his private studio in the 70's and 80's will be released under the moniker he worte on the boxes storing them, Johny Cash: Personal File. This is a collection of previously unreleased recordings of Johnny covering songs that meant something to him, his and others, in his forties and fifties. His son John Carter Cash has had a hand in producing the album and it will be a double album covering songs recorded from 1973 to 1982. I will be buying a copy on May 23.

Then July 4 Rick Rubin has announced he will be releasing American V: A Hundred Highways. These songs were recorded in the months leading up to John's death, and especially helped him deal with June's passing in May of 2003. The album will include two brand new songs written by Cash, including his last ever composition 'Like the 309', a last train song in a long line of them. It will also include some covers; a Springsteen song, a Hank Wiliams song, a Gordon Lightfoot tune, and a traditional spiritual.

Rick Rubin, as well as a first rate group of musicians and Cash's engineer David "fergie" Ferguson completed the album since Johnny's death in September 2003.

Rick Rubin spoke with Billboard:

"Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive," Rubin says. "And I think it was the only thing that kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to."

Having recently begun my argument for why all radios should be turned off I am happy to say something good will be put into the world, regardless of how far away the artist is from this plane of existence.

"We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to the end," Rubin adds. "It felt like he was directing the proceedings, and I know that the musicians all felt that as well... More than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny would love this,' because it was so good and so different from anything we'd done before, we knew he would be excited by what was happening."

Perhaps he's not too far away...

I'll own American V before 10:00 am July 4. Two new albums from Johnny Cash in the next three months? It's gonna be a good summer.