Johnny Cash’s Writings Put to Song

A selection of poems, lyrics, letters and other writings by Johnny Cash – undiscovered until after his death – has been put to music by an assortment of country, rock and Americana artists, and will be released as Johnny Cash: Forever Words on April 6th by Legacy Recordings.

Acts on the 16-track collection include Chris Cornell, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Elvis Costello, The Jayhawks, T Bone Burnett and Robert Glasper. Lifelong friends Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson collaborate on the opening track, “Forever/I Still Miss Someone,” the last poem Cash ever wrote. Johnny’s eldest daughter Rosanne Cash and June Carter’s first daughter Carlene Carter also contribute to the project.

“Determining the artist for each song was truly a matter of the heart,” explains Johnny’s son John Carter Cash, the album’s co-producer. “I picked the artists whoa are most connected with my father, who had a personal story that was connected with Dad. It became an exciting endeavor to go through these works, to put them together and present them to different people who could finish them in a way that I believed Dad would have wanted.”