Johnny Cash - American II: Unchained

In 1993 Johnny Cash was a legend without a label, dropped by Nashville and playing dinner theaters. Rick Rubin signed him, sat him in a living room with a guitar, and let him sing whatever he wanted. The American Recordings series that followed became the greatest late-career resurrection in popular music.

Unchained, from 1996, plugs the series in. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers back Cash throughout, and the results range from a snarling take on Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" to Petty's own "Southern Accents" to the freight-train recitation of "I've Been Everywhere," which became one of his best-known late recordings.

It won the Grammy for Best Country Album, prompting Rubin to buy a famous full-page ad thanking Nashville radio for its support, featuring a photo of Cash extending a middle finger.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl with a download card. The loudest and most fun of the American albums.