Award-winning producer John Carter Cash chats about his new album, Songwriter — a compilation of the uncovered, refreshed recordings of his legendary father.
In 1993, The Man in Black recorded an album’s worth of songwriting demos at LSI Studios in Nashville. Some thirty years later, John Carter Cash pulled his father’s unreleased songs off of the shelf, blew away the cobwebs, and set out to bring Johnny Cash’s music back to life. Songwriter, Johnny Cash’s new album, is the culmination of a collaboration between John Carter Cash, co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, and a variety of handpicked musicians that have played with the legendary country artist.
John Carter Cash talks discovering his father’s previously unreleased music and labor of love that is Songwriter.
C&I: Your father died in 2003, but you’ve managed to bring his songwriting back to life in a very exciting way this year. How did you rediscover the recordings of Songwriter?
John Carter Cash: The masters were with the group of people who’d owned the recording studio. And this group of recordings just fell through the cracks in 1993. My dad had made them almost as demos, then he wanted to do something different. So it wound up being songs that very few people [had] ever heard. They’re beautiful and they’re brilliant and they’re amazing.
C&I: And your father penned all of the 11 tracks by himself, right?
Cash: Yes. No co-writers. Just Dad by himself. And that’s why it’s called Songwriter. There’s not another Johnny Cash album that is just Dad. You get exactly who he was as a songwriter at the time.
C&I: How did you unearth the potential of these songs, knowing they’re 30 years old?
Cash: For a while it was questionable [whether] these recordings should be released. As more time passed, more people wanted to hear more music. And it struck me that the strongest thing about the original recordings was Dad’s vocals. Mostly it’s just Dad and his guitar. I saw the possibility to really simplify the production. To create the right landscape behind him to make you think of that time period, and to create the new recordings around his voice as the center of it all. His voice is timeless.
C&I: Can you tell when you listen what his frame of mind was when he made this music?
Cash: When he made it, his energy was there. There are certain songs that stand out, though. Like “Drive On.” He had broken his jaw and had nerve damage, and he wanted to study people who had more pain and PTSD than he did. So, he read book after book after book on the experiences of the people in Vietnam who learned to deal with their physical and emotional pain. That led him to create the character in that song who had issues to overcome.
C&I: So your dad spent ample time researching a topic before he’d sit down with a blank sheet of paper? That may inspire new singers and songwriters to follow his lead and bring back that lost art of storytelling songs.
Cash: You should see his library. My father was a student first, and the rest followed. I spent a lot more time watching my father read a book than I did with him holding a guitar. That’s how you have story songs. How many times do you lie down at night and listen to music? You listen with your eyes closed. You’re creating that picture without having to stare at anything, and without any screen in front of you.
C&I: What do you think your father would think about the project, from his 1993 start to your 2024 finish?
Cash: He would believe that I followed my heart. My heart said for a long time, “It’s not time for this album.” And then eventually my heart said, “It’s time.”
The Cash Style
John Carter Cash visited with C&I recently on the CMT Music Awards red carpet. He admitted to being a big fan of the magazine, not only because of its history and entertainment coverage, but for its dedication to Western style. “I’m wearing Luccheses that I got at Allens Boots ... and a Stetson hat. Dad always wore Luccheses.”
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Listen to Johnny Cash’s new album now on Spotify and Apple Music.
From our August/September 2024 issue, coming to a newsstand near you soon.
