100 Highways

We bought a copy of American V 100 Highways today, billed as the last recordings of Johnny Cash.

This is one powerful drug, not to be taken without a prescription. 100 Highways is a fantastic recording. I can imagine Cash, in and out of the hospital, trying to get these songs down. These are his death songs. It is dark, way dark. Not for party listening, that's for sure.

An interesting sidebar here - there are two songs by Canadians on this recording - If you could read my mind, the old Gord Lightfoot tune, and Ian Tyson's great Four Strong Winds.

I'm reminded of the American painter Philip Guston, who like Cash, enjoyed a creative renaissance in his last years, producing tough and ugly and brilliant work. For Cash, this renaissance came about after his meeting with Rick Rubin. Together they reinvented Johnny Cash and produced a remarkable catalogue of work.

A long while ago, I posted this picture of Cash at Folsom Prison. Every day, two or three or four people land on mister anchovy while searching for it......so here it is one more time.

Rating: a full case of salties - fantastic