Cash American VI News

Thanks to JakobGreen at the Hank III board for this one

American VI will be the second album of songs from the final recording sessions Johnny Cash made before he died. Like its predecessors, American Recordings, Unchained, American III: Solitary Man, American IV: The Man Comes Around, and American V: A Hundred Highways, American VI is produced by Rick Rubin and will be released on Rubin’s American Recordings record label. Lost Highway Records currently distributes country releases from the American Recordings label. Though the liner notes of Unearthed (a box set comprised of outtakes from the first four entries into the series) claim “around 50” songs were recorded during the American V sessions prior to Cash’s death on September 12, 2003, only two albums worth of material will be released, including American V: A Hundred Highways.

One track known to be recorded during these sessions but not included on American V is “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”. Another track that could possibly be included is “A Satisfied Mind” which was released on the soundtrack to Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Rubin is credited as producer and the track is copyrighted 2003, which would suggest that it came from Cash’s final sessions.

Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day” was recorded by Cash weeks before his death and is a likely candidate for inclusion on American VI.

Doug Kershaw has told audiences in 2006 that he has heard Cash’s recording of Kershaw’s signature song “Lousiana Man”, but its status for inclusion on American VI is unknown.

According to a USA Today article, American VI could be released in early 2007. Most likely it will be released Mid-2007.

Track listing…

“A tentative track listing has been revealed on ManInBlack.net, a Johnny Cash fansite. It includes the following songs…”

1. “San Antonio”
2. “Redemption Day”
3. “Here Comes a Boy”
4. “That’s Enough”
5. “1st Corinthians 5:55”
6. “I Can’t Help But Wonder”
7. “Nine-Pound Hammer”
8. “North to Alaska”
9. “His Eyes on the Sparrow”
10. “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again”
11. “The Eye of an Eagle”
12. “Don’t Take Everybody for Your Friend”
13. “Belshazzar”
14. “Loading Coal”
15. “A Half a Mile a Day”
16. “Flesh and Blood”
17. “I Am a Pilgrim”
18. “Beautiful Dreamer”
19. “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”
20. “Family Bible”

Fire Destroys Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Home

From the Associated Press – Firefighters were battling flames this afternoon (April 10) in a major fire that has reportedly destroyed the home of the late country singer Johnny Cash. Dispatchers said all but one of the city’s engines had responded to the fire in the Hendersonville suburb northeast of Nashville.

No injuries were reported. Hendersonville Fire Department officials said construction crews were working at the house when the fire started. The cause is unknown.

Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived at the house until their deaths in 2003. The property was purchased by the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb in January 2006. Gibb and his wife, Linda, had said they planned to restore the home on Old Hickory Lake and hoped to write songs there.

Gibb’s spokesperson said the 60-year-old singer and his family are “both saddened and devastated by the news” but declined to release further details about the house or the fire.

While the Cashes lived there, the 13,880-square-foot house, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, was visited by everyone from U.S. presidents to ordinary fans.

“Of course we are all in a state of shock,” Johnny Cash’s sister Joanne said in a statement. “I feel that an era has passed. Just today in prayer, I had decided to move on, even discarding old newspaper clippings not realizing that this terrible thing would happen. My prayers are with the Cash family and especially the Gibb family during this time.”

Billy Joe Shaver Released on Bond in Connection with Bar Shooting

From the Associated Press – Country singer Billy Joe Shaver was released on bond Tuesday after surrendering to authorities in connection with a weekend bar shooting that wounded a man, police said.

Shaver turned himself in at the McLennan County Jail in Waco and was released after posting $50,000 bail, said Lorena Police Chief John Moran.

Shaver, 67, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a handgun on the premises of a business with a license to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption.

The singer’s attorney, Joseph A. Turner of Austin, has said his client shot the man in self defense after he left the Lorena bar and followed Shaver into the parking lot Saturday night. Turner said Shaver did not know the man and that the stranger was drunk, aggressive and had a knife.

The shooting occurred at 8:30 p.m. Saturday outside Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon off Interstate 35, according to Lorena police. The victim was reportedly shot in the cheek.

Shaver, who lives in Waco, about 15 miles from Lorena, rose to country music stardom in the 1970s. Shaver, an acclaimed songwriter whose hits include “Georgia on a Fast Train” and “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)” has recorded more than 20 albums.

Mathew Knowles, president and CEO of Music World Entertainment — which last month acquired Shaver’s label, Houston-based Compadre Records — said he talked to Shaver on Tuesday after he was released on bond.

Knowles, who is Beyonce’s father, said he and Shaver did not discuss the shooting but that he wanted the country singer to know that the company supports him.

Knowles said Shaver was appearing at Waterloo Records in Austin to promote his greatest hits CD.

“Billy Joe Shaver is an icon in the country music industry. We’re not going to turn our back on him at all,” Knowles said. “I personally wanted to tell him that, which is what we talked about today.”

James McMurtry Inducted into the Austin Chronicle Music Poll Hall of Fame

Recipient of Americana Music Association’s Album of the Year (Childish Things) and Song of the Year (“We Can’t Make it Here”), Rabble-Rowser, Working Class Hero…and now James McMurtry can now add “Hall of Fame Inductee” to his ever-growing list of accolades

The South By Southwest was kicked off at the Austin Music Awards this past Wednesday, March 14th, James McMurtry was inducted into the Austin Chronicle Music Poll Hall of Fame.  McMurtry was inducted along with Paul Ray (of the Cobras), Lucinda Williams, Scratch Acid, Patrice Pike, DJ Casanova, Blues Boy Hubbard and Ernie Mae Miller. Past inductees include Stephen Bruton, Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson, Gurf Morlix, and Doug Sahm.

Willie Nelson Forms Pedernales Records

From Country Standard Time – Willie Nelson will announce the formation of Pedernales Records at a press conference during the annual South By Southwest Music & Media Conference, his publicist said Monday. Nelson will introduce his company, top executives and the first artists signed to the independent label.It was not clear if Nelson would be on the label himself. He currently is signed to Lost Highway Records and had Kenny Chesney produce an upcoming album this winter.

Pedernales Records takes its name from the river that flows by Nelson’s home and headquarters outside of Austin, where he also owns Pedernales Country Club and founded Pedernales Studios (now owned by his nephew Freddy Fletcher), where Nelson has recorded as well.

Compadre Records Bought by Beyonce’s Dad

I have no idea whayt this means for the future of Compadre – home of Billy Joe Shaver and James McMurtry – I just hope it doesn’t start to blow. – From Country Standard Time – Tuesday, February 27, 2007 – Compadre Records, the Houston roots music label, was bought by Music World Entertainment, owned by Mathew Knowles, father of Beyonce. MWE will now control Compadre’s catalog and continue to invest in future projects. Compadre’s staff will join the Music World organization to continue label functions as a roots music imprint.

CMT – Sucks Mostly, But Not Completely

I got an email out of the blue today from CMT. Some nice person by the name of “Jen” emailed to implore me to alert you, loyal Twanger, that “There is a chance that Comcast may switch CMT from its current home on the basic cable package to a digital package.” Apparently if this unspeakable act comes to pass then several markets will lose access to CMT and it will cost them more bank to get it back. Truth be told, 99% of the time CMT, and their parade of crap – The CMT Music Awards, is a arid wasteland and serves as a sterling example of what’s wrong with Nashville and hollow spectacle that contemporary country music has come to be. But they do have the Crossroads series, which is not half bad and actually on one occasion – Roseanne Cash and Steve Earle – was brilliant. And Studio 330 highlights some truly great talent at their live best. So for that 1%, I am posting this notice. If you have Comcast, and like CMT, especially you folks in Baltimore, apparently in your market the end is nigh – then call or email Comcast and give ’em hell. Or go to a “fan created site” (uh huh) commiserate with others in these dark times.

June Carter Tribute Planned

Billboard reports that Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris and Brad Paisley are among the stars appearing on the June Carter Cash tribute album “Anchored in Love,” due June 19 via Dualtone. The release will coincide with a biography of the same name penned by Cash’s son John.

With the exception of Ralph Stanley, who recorded “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” at the southwest Virginia home of the Carter Family, “Anchored in Love” was recorded throughout 2006 on the Cash family property in Hendersonville, Tenn.

On it, Costello tackles the iconic “Ring of Fire,” while Nelson and Crow team up for a duet on “If I Were a Carpenter.” Carter Cash’s stepdaughter Rosanne performs the spiritual “Wings of Angels” and Lynn offers a version of “Wildwood Flower.”

Carter Cash died May 15, 2003, after complications from heart surgery.

Here is the unsequenced song list for “Anchored in Love”:

“If I Were a Carpenter,” Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson
“Jackson,” Carlene Carter and Ronnie Dunn
“Wildwood Flower,” Loretta Lynn
“Far Side Banks of Jordan,” Patty Loveless and Kris Kristofferson
“Keep On the Sunny Side,” Brad Paisley
“Wings of Angels,” Rosanne Cash
“Ring of Fire,” Elvis Costello
“Road to Kaintuck,” Billy Bob Thornton and the Peasall Sisters
“Big Yellow Peaches,” Grey De Lisle
“Kneeling Drunkard Plea,” Billy Joe Shaver
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” Ralph Stanley
“Song to John,” Emmylou Harris

The Snakehandlers Provide Soundtrack to MTV’s Wrestling Society X Team

Los Angeles based and self-proclaimed “world’s loundest country band” – The Snakehandlers – and after hearing ’em they have a damn good fighting chance, will provide the theme music for MTV’s Wrestling Society X, the Trailer Park Boyz tag team. The perfect accompaniment to hopped up rednecks whooping ass on basic cable. Yeee haaaaaaaw!

Music Made a Man Out of Me (mp3)Â