American Recordings

It was the 81st album by Cash, released on the label then renamed from Def American. Rubin approached him after seeing him perform at Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert in late 1992, and promised a high level of creative control. Cash decided to record the first solo album of his career without any accompanying musicians. Most of it was made in his Tennessee cabin or Rubin's Los Angeles home with only a guitar. Pitchfork's Kaleb Horton wrote that they got more than thirty songs in the first three days, and that Rubin tried adding Mike Campbell, Flea and Chad Smith before deciding he preferred Cash alone.

Cash performed songs by Tom Waits, Glenn Danzig, Nick Lowe, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson and Loudon Wainwright III. Rubin commissioned Down There by the Train from Waits and Thirteen from Danzig, who wrote it for Cash in under twenty minutes. The Beast in Me was written and first recorded by Nick Lowe, Cash's former stepson-in-law. Delia's Gone had been on The Sound of Johnny Cash in 1962 and Oh, Bury Me Not on Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West in 1965. Tennessee Stud and The Man Who Couldn't Cry were recorded live at the Viper Room.

Reception

The album reached number 110 on the Billboard 200 and number 23 on the country chart, and won the 1995 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone called it at once monumental and viscerally intimate. It was voted seventh best album of 1994 in the Pazz and Jop poll, and Rolling Stone placed it at number 366 on its 2009 list of the 500 greatest albums.