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Johnny Cash had a presence on the music charts from the 1950s through the first decade of the 21st Century.
The legendary singer’s amazing run even outlasted his own life, including an LP that hit No. 1 July 22, 2006, and reached a spot on the charts only one of his other albums did.
Critically acclaimed release
American V: A Hundred Highways was released 20 years ago in July, 2006.
The fifth of the six “American” albums and by far the most successful.
Featuring singles, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” and “Help Me,” American V: A Hundred Highways reached No. 1 on the Billboard’s Country chart, becoming the ninth to do so.
With a score of 82/100 on Metacritic, the album also hit No. 1 on the overall Billboard chart, joining Cash’s iconic live album, At San Quentin, as the only two recorded by The Man in Black to achieve such status.
“Almost three years after his death, and with a surfeit of posthumously released compilations on the market, comes American V, the last batch of songs Johnny Cash recorded with his unlikely collaborator and soul mate, producer Rick Rubin,” wrote Sean O’Hagan for The Guardian. “In many ways, it is simply more of the same: a selection of hand-picked songs that perfectly fit the enduring myth of the Man in Black, and a handful of the kind of sentimental ballads that Cash, the undimmed romantic, could never resist.”
Carrying on a legacy
American V is a posthumous release and features Cash’s vocals recorded just prior to his death in 2003.
Two years later, Rubin gathered musicians (including guitarists Mike Campbell and Smokey Hormel and keyboardist Benmont Tench) to finish the record.
The result was a smash hit that debuted at No. 1 and got five stars from O’Hagan.
“The myth endures then, even, especially, in the face of death,” the critic wrote. “And in Cash's spirited rendering of Springsteen's 'Further on (Up the Road)', it suggests that the legend of Johnny Cash is alive and kicking even if the man himself is no longer around to maintain it. The songs will take care of that.”
Lasting impact
Released in 1963, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash was his first album to reach No. 1 on the country chart.
It was followed by I Walk the Line (’64), Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits (1967),Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968), Johnny Cash at San Quentin (’69), Hello, I’m Johnny Cash (’70), The Johnny Cash Show (’70), Man in Black (’71), and American V: A Hundred Highways.
Cash’s collaboration with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson — Highwayman — in 1985 also reached No. 1 on the country chart.
