Johnny Cash: American V: A Hundred Highways

Sometimes when you are cruising around in your car during the summer you want upbeat music, something with a high pace and enlivened lyrics. But then, there are those dog-days when the oppressive heat leaves you looking for something that will just help you mellow out. In the twilight of his career, Johnny Cash recorded the perfect CD for that sort of situation. This summer, Lost Highway Records released Cash’s album American V: A Hundred Highways.

There are clear elements of Cash’s style in the music, but the tone is more of the old, wandering stranger than the young, bold cowboy. It is a collection of songs that show the reflection that the Man in Black went through before the end of his life, beginning with songs like “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” an excited but still slow song with a heavy rhythm discussing how everyone eventually comes to the end.

A retrospective of Cash’s life then follows, highlighted by the song “Rose of my Heart,” which sounds like it was written to be a duet with and tribute to his lifelong love, June Carter Cash. He lays out his history of romantic relationships with expertly crafted lyrics in the track “Love’s Been Good to Me,” and covers the pains he has felt with the ironic song “A Legend in my Time.” But perhaps one of the most sentimental song is “Like the 309,” the last track he ever recorded. It opens with the lyrics: “It should be awhile before I see Dr. Death, / So it would sure be nice if I could get my breath,” evidencing the fact that Cash knew the end was near and just wanted to get a few last words off his mind.

Every once in awhile, an album congeals beautifully to create a single train of thought. American V: A Hundred Highways is this summer’s reflective and complete album. It can be listened to from beginning to end, and by the time it’s over you’re ready to listen to it again. There is no more perfect new CD to put into the sound system when you’re headed out onto the road for a long time and need something to listen to that will help you relax and reflect. At the end of his life, Cash gave us the gift of one more album to grant us vision into the clarity he had at the end of his life.

More information on the album is available at Lost Highway Records’ website, http://main.losthighwayrecords.com/ and is priced at around $10.