The Definitive Collection (1985-1993)

Performer: Johnny Cash
Artist: Kris Kristofferson; Waylon Jennings; Willie Nelson; Emmylou Harris; Rosanne Cash; The Everly Brothers; June Carter; The Carter Family; Hank Williams, Jr.; U2
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitars). The mid 1980s to early '90s are often regarded by casual listeners as Johnny Cash's lost years, merely because he was under the commercial radar before Rick Rubin helped revive his career in the mid '90s. Nevertheless, the recordings Cash made during this period, as captured on THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, contain plenty of substantive work. Things lead off with "Highwayman," the theme song of Cash's Highwaymen country supergroup with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Sharp new versions of Cash classics like "I Guess Things Happen That Way" find him breathing new life into the past. The hard-hitting country rock of "Goin' By the Book" and Cash's atmospheric U2 collaboration, "The Wanderer" (from their ZOOROPA album), show he hadn't lost the contemporary touch. Ultimately, though, the real testament to this phase of his career is the fact that there are still enough unrepresented tunes for a second volume.

Johnny Cash was part rockabilly rebel, part campfire storyteller, part outlaw in black. Cash made country and rockabilly history on the Sun label in the 1950s. During the '60s, the ruggedly charismatic Cash rose to superstardom, ending the decade with both his marriage to June Carter and his own television show. In the '90s, Cash began his highly successful and acclaimed AMERICAN RECORDINGS series, reaching a new audience with an amazingly diverse set of songs, ranging from traditional tunes to alternative rock covers. With his lean, angular sound and hearty, passionate baritone, Cash forged one of the most unique styles in all of popular music, one that delved into gospel, folk, and rock, but also remained the essence of country music. Four months after his wife died, Johnny Cash passed away on September 12, 2003. And in 2005, the Oscar-nominated biopic WALK THE LINE brought Cash's music and legend to his largest audience yet.

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