AMERICAN/LOST HIGHWAY UNEARTHS CASH BOXED SET

And that’s what American Recordings/Lost Highway has in mind for Cash Unearthed, a five-CD boxed set it will put out Nov. 25. Country legend Johnny Cash passed away on Sept. 12 (see hitsdailydouble.com story).

The release contains 79 tracks recorded during Johnny Cash's American Recordings era. Four of the five CDs contain 64 never-before-heard recordings. A fifth CD contains tracks from Cash's four Grammy Award-winning albums with producer/American Recordings founder Rick Rubin.

Disc I (Who's Gonna Cry), Disc II (Trouble In Mind) and III (Redemption Songs) feature unreleased gems, such as "Trouble In Mind" and solo acoustic versions of "Long Black Veil" and "Flesh And Blood." Disc I, II and III also contain Cash's renditions of Steve Earle's "Devil's Right Hand," Roy Orbison's "Down The Line" and Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" and "Pocahontas." All have been culled from the recording sessions for American Recordings (1994), Unchained (1996), American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002).

Disc IV is a new spiritual album titled My Mother’s Hymn Book, featuring 15 solo acoustic performances. The songs from this very personal disc were taken from Cash's mother Carrie's book of hymns she taught him as a boy. Disc V, titled Best of Cash on American features selections from the four acclaimed American Recording releases.

Other truly special highlights on Unearthed are some of Cash's extraordinary unreleased duets, including Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" with Joe Strummer, Cat Stevens’ "Father And Son" with Fiona Apple, Chuck Berry's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" with Carl Perkins, "Cindy" with Nick Cave, and "Like A Soldier" with Willie Nelson.

Unearthed also includes an extensive 104-page clothbound book featuring one of the Man In Black's final interviews, in which he and Rick Rubin talk about coming together, selecting songs, and creating what became a monumental body of work. The interview also includes extensive comments from Tom Petty, Roseanne Cash, John Carter Cash and more. An added highlight is a track by track discussion of each song by Cash, Rick Rubin and others.