Johnny Cash My Mother's Hymn Book CD

What can one write of Johnny Cash that has not already been written? For a man whose life fused sin and salvation like a prime-time mini-series there are few secrets left for the public. Yet if picking over the bones of a life less ordinary is what’s required, count us out. Fierce! Distribution is proud to be associated with Cash’s last album, the intriguing, inspiring ‘My Mother’s Hymn Book’.

Recorded in a cabin on the Cash estate, the album pours through the collection of hymns and spirituals from which his mother would sing to him when Cash was a child. For the man himself, the journey was a personal one of ultimate importance, so much so that he accorded it the highest praise:

‘You asked me to pick my favourite album I’ve ever made and this is it, My Mother’s Hymn Book.’ [Johnny Cash]

The album fits into the final period of the artist’s life, the one enriched by unlikely musical collaboration and given purpose and focus by the knowledge that time was running out. Included among the jewels are the likes of ‘I Shall Not Be Moved’, ‘Just As I Am’ and the classic ‘I’ll Fly Away’.

‘My Mother’s Hymn Book’ was produced by Rick Ruben, a true Renaissance man of music. As co-founder of hip-hop label Def Jam his cv is as varied as it is classy: from the Beastie Boys to Slayer, LL Cool J to Tom Petty, Ruben’s prints can be found all over the music scene over the last couple of decades. Yet for those willing to dig a little deeper it soon becomes clear why a collaboration between Rubin and Cash was bound to work. Why? Simplicity. According to Rubin, it’s quite important…

‘The secret is, use as little as possible to get the job done. But when you do that, everything has to be really right.’ [Rick Rubin]

Such values sit comfortably with Cash, as ‘My Mother’s Hymn Book’ clearly shows. Each track orbits the twin suns of Cash’s unique vocals and his rock-steady acoustic guitar. The result is both a collection of individuals songs and a final sermon from one whose preaching always sounded far more like testimony than instruction.

As a final statement from a man whose struggles were visible, there could be none clearer than My Mother’s Hymn Book. The result is potent stuff, for example when in ‘Softly And Tenderly’ Cash sings of Jesus calling us home, it is impossible not to get drawn in. His questions are personal, yet universal…

‘Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me?’

As Sylvie Simmons writes in the liner note to Hymn Book,

‘If [Cash's mother] Carrie had not taught him these hymn book songs, encouraged him to sing them and told him that his talent was a 'gift from God' and he should not toss it away, he would likely not be here today.’

Well, things have changed since the recording and production of the album. Yet in ‘My Mother’s Hymn Book’ there is a pulse that will continue to be felt for years to come.