Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man

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.

By 2000 Cash was seriously ill, and Solitary Man carries that knowledge in every line. His voice is rougher here, and the song choices cut deeper: Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" becomes a statement of will, Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" turns into an execution hymn, and Will Oldham's "I See a Darkness" is as bleak and beautiful a duet as either man ever recorded.

It won a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and stands as the moment the series turned from revival to reckoning.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl.