American IV: The Man Comes Around

Made with Rick Rubin and John Carter Cash, it is mostly covers in sparse arrangements, including songs by Trent Reznor, Martin Gore, Paul Simon, Lennon and McCartney and Hank Williams. Rubin asked John Frusciante to rework Personal Jesus as a stripped acoustic blues. By Graeme Thomson's account, Cash was in serious ill health, had lost most of his vision, and the sessions were interrupted by hospital stays. Guests include Fiona Apple, Nick Cave and Don Henley, with Mike Campbell, Smokey Hormel, Marty Stuart and Randy Scruggs on guitars and Benmont Tench on keyboards. David Ferguson engineered and mixed it.

Reception

It reached number 22 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the country albums chart, and number one on the UK country chart. It was certified Platinum in the US, UK, Germany and Canada, and won the 2003 Country Music Association Album of the Year. Metacritic scores it 70. Mojo gave it four and a half stars, and Pitchfork 6.9. The Austin Chronicle praised its austere beauty but found his voice limited on Danny Boy and In My Life. The 2014 reissue has 15 tracks and drops Wichita Lineman and Big Iron.