Unearthed (Johnny Cash album)

Disc 1 – Who's Gonna Cry

This disc features acoustic solo recordings in the same style as American Recordings. The song selection leans toward songs from Cash's back catalog, as noted below each song. Total running time: 51:13

Track listing

1. "Long Black Veil" (Danny Dill/Marijohn Wilkin) – 3:15
2. "Flesh and Blood" (Cash) – 2:29
3. "Just the Other Side of Nowhere" (Kris Kristofferson) – 3:18
4. "If I Give My Soul" (Billy Joe Shaver) – 3:01
5. "Understand Your Man" (Cash) – 2:06
6. "Banks of the Ohio" (Maybelle Carter) – 4:07
7. "Two Timin' Woman" (Hank Snow) – 2:06
8. "The Caretaker" (Cash) – 1:55
9. "Old Chunk of Coal" (Shaver) – 1:54
10. "I'm Going to Memphis" (Cash/Hollie Dew/Alan Lomax) – 2:40
11. "Breaking Bread" (Randy L. George) – 2:48
12. "Waiting for a Train" (Jimmie Rodgers) – 1:46
13. "Casey's Last Ride" (Kristofferson) – 3:21
14. "No Earthly Good" (Cash) – 2:43
15. "The Fourth Man in the Fire" (Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith) – 2:48
16. "Dark as a Dungeon" (Merle Travis) – 3:00
17. "Book Review" (dialogue)  – 2:07
18. "Down There by the Train" (Tom Waits) – 5:49

Disc 2 – Trouble in Mind

This disc feels more like Unchained. Most of the performances are electric, have a lighthearted feel, and feature Cash backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, members of Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Red Devils, or his extended family. This CD features many covers of songs Cash had not previously recorded. One track features a duet with longtime collaborator Carl Perkins and was one of the last times Cash recorded with him before Perkins' death in 1998. Total running time: 52:10

Track listing

1. "Pocahontas" (Neil Young) – 3:43
2. "I'm a Drifter" (Version 1) (Dolly Parton) – 3:50
3. "Trouble in Mind" (Richard M. Jones) – 3:32
4. "Down the Line" (Roy Orbison/Sam Phillips) – 2:38
5. "I'm Moving On" (Hank Snow) – 2:54
6. "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" (Peter La Farge, Cash) – 4:21 with June Carter Cash
7. "Heart of Gold" (Young) – 3:01 with Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. "The Running Kind" (Haggard) – 3:11 with Tom Petty
9. "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Carl Perkins) – 2:11
10. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (Chuck Berry) – 2:21 with Carl Perkins
11. "T for Texas" (Jimmie Rodgers) – 3:38
12. "Devil's Right Hand" (Steve Earle) – 2:33
13. "I'm a Drifter" (Version 2) (Parton) – 3:45
14. "Like a Soldier" (Cash) – 2:55 with Willie Nelson
15. "Drive On" (Cash) – 2:23
16. "Bird on a Wire" (Leonard Cohen) – 5:13

Disc 3 – Redemption Songs

Like Solitary Man and The Man Comes Around, this disc is mostly acoustic, though Cash is backed by a full band on most songs. Like the second disc, it features several duets. Tracks 8 and 10 were originally released on the first vinyl pressing of The Man Comes Around. Total running time: 47:58

Track listing

1. "A Singer of Songs" (Tim O'Connell) – 2:48
2. "The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore" (Jean Ritchie) – 3:13
3. "Redemption Song" (Bob Marley) – 3:27 with Joe Strummer
4. "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens) – 2:49 with Fiona Apple
5. "Chattanooga Sugar Babe" (Norman Blake) – 3:16
6. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (Bobby Braddock/Curly Putman) – 2:37
7. "Hard Times Come Again No More" (Stephen Foster) – 4:01
8. "Wichita Lineman" (Jimmy Webb) – 3:03
9. "Cindy" (Traditional) – 2:53 with Nick Cave
10. "Big Iron" (Marty Robbins) – 3:52
11. "Salty Dog" (Rudy Toombs/Traditional) – 2:26
12. "Gentle on My Mind" (John Hartford) – 3:24 with Glen Campbell
13. "You Are My Sunshine" (Jimmie Davis/Charles Mitchell) – 3:18
14. "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers) – 2:59
15. "The Man Comes Around" (Cash) – 3:51

Disc 4 – My Mother's Hymn Book

My Mother's Hymn Book is a collection of Christian spiritual songs and hymns that Cash originally learned from his mother while growing up. The album features only Cash's voice and a single acoustic guitar. This disc was released as a stand-alone disc the following year (his 89th overall album) under the same title, and peaked at #9 on the Christian music album chart. In the album's liner notes Cash mentions that this is his favorite album he ever made.

This was Cash's final album devoted to previously unreleased performances of faith-based music and hymns, following a long string of such releases dating back to 1959 and individual singles and album tracks even before that, though many of the songs featured had previously been recorded by Cash. Tracks 6, 9 and 10 were previously recorded for Hymns from the Heart (1962); tracks 5, 11, 14 and 15 were previously recorded for Sings Precious Memories (1975); and track 7 was recorded in concert for The Survivors Live (1982). Several other songs, such as track 13, had been performed by Cash on TV or live in concert, but formal studio recordings had not yet been issued until now.

Although the images used on the standalone CD depict Cash near the end of his life, most of the recordings on My Mother's Hymn Book actually date to Cash's early sessions for American in 1993-1994 (hence the fact they only feature Cash performing by himself).

Track listing

1. "Where We'll Never Grow Old" (James C. Moore) – 3:31
2. "I Shall Not Be Moved" (V.O. Fossett) – 2:41
3. "I Am a Pilgrim" (Merle Travis) – 2:27
4. "Do Lord" (Fossett) – 2:12
5. "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" (James Milton Black) – 1:36
6. "If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven" (Albert E. Brumley) – 2:31
7. "I'll Fly Away" (Brumley) – 1:54
8. "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies" (William Lee Golden/Wayne Raney) – 2:15
9. "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning" (Philip Bliss) – 3:14
10. "When He Reached Down His Hand for Me" (Marion Easterling/Thomas Wright/J.F.B. Wright) – 2:14
11. "In the Sweet By-and-By" (Sanford Fillmore Bennett/Joseph Philbrick Webster) – 2:25
12. "I'm Bound for the Promised Land" (Traditional) – 2:15
13. "In the Garden" (C. Austin Miles) – 3:18
14. "Softly and Tenderly" (Will L. Thompson) – 3:17
15. "Just as I Am" (William Batchelder Bradbury/Charlotte Elliot) – 2:38

Personnel

Disc 5 – Best of Cash on American

This disc contains what the producers considered to be some of Cash's finest from his productive time at American Recordings; in essence, it is a "best of" compilation from the four albums he released under the label before passing away in 2003. All tracks previously released with the exception of Track 3, which is a previously unreleased extended edit. Total running time: 52:14

Track listing

1. "Delia's Gone" (Silbersdorf, Toops) – 2:19
2. "Bird on a Wire" (Leonard Cohen) – 4:04
3. "Thirteen" (Danzig) – 3:23 (though unadvertised as such, this version is extended compared to the original album version)

1. "Rowboat" (Beck) – 3:45
2. "The One Rose (That's Left in My Heart)" (Lyon, McIntire) – 2:28
3. "Rusty Cage" (Cornell) – 2:50
4. "Southern Accents" (Petty) – 4:42

1. "Mercy Seat" (Cave, Harvey) – 4:35
2. "Solitary Man" (Diamond) – 2:25
3. "Wayfaring Stranger" (Traditional) – 3:22
4. "One" (Bono, Clayton, Edge, Mullen) – 3:52

1. "I Hung My Head" (Sting) – 3:52
2. "The Man Comes Around" (Cash) – 4:29
3. "We'll Meet Again" (Hughie Charles, Ross Parker) – 2:57
4. "Hurt" (Trent Reznor) – 3:38

Personnel

Additional personnel

Follow-up release

In a March 2014 interview, Rubin indicated that "according to John's wishes", at least one more album of American recordings may be released in the future in a similar format to Unearthed, while John Carter Cash suggested that enough material exists for "three or four" albums, though he conceded that many American recordings may remain unreleased.