American III: Solitary Man

Personnel: Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard (vocals, guitar); Sheryl Crow (vocals, accordion); Tom Petty (vocals, organ); Will Oldham, June Carter Cash (vocals); Norman Blake, Mike Campbell, Larry Perkins, Randy Scruggs, Marty Stuart (guitar); Laura Cash (fiddle); Benmont Tench (piano, harmonium, organ).

Recorded at The Cash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, Tennessee and The Akademie Mathematique Of Philosophical Sound Research, Los Angeles, California.  Includes liner notes by Johnny Cash.
"Solitary Man" won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. AMERICAN III was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Johnny Cash went through a lot in the late 1990s and the year 2000: a debilitating nerve disorder put the brakes on his live performances and touring, yet with AMERICAN III: SOLITARY MAN, his spirit and abilities remain undiminished. His voice has taken on a slightly more gentle and reflective quality, and his association with producer Rick Rubin has afforded him the opportunity to choose, and write, songs that are worthy of him.

The Neil Diamond '60s pop hit "Solitary Man" is given an acoustic, spare reading, yet one can sense the demons of loneliness and frustration behind Cash's stoic delivery. Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" is an eerie, obsessive litany of the first-person musings and observations of an innocent man's time of execution. The Cash originals, like the proud yet wryly sarcastic "Country Trash" and devotional love song "Before My Time," let some light in. The overall sound of AMERICAN III: SOLITARY MAN is predominantly acoustic and intimate, with guitar, fiddle, piano, organ, and harmonium; guest stars Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, Tom Petty, and Norman Blake sound right at home with the Man In Black.