Johnny Cash: American V
So a posthumous release from Johnny Cash came out a week ago, American V. I’m reading Cash’s autobiography, plus a book written about his spiritual journey, The Man Comes Around, by Dave Urbanski (reviews to follow not-so-closely). So this cd… depressing. And from what I’ve read, Cash usually liked to keep his music simple, and this is rather embellished for what I gather are his tastes. BUT! I still like it. He sings “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot. It’s my favorite. The latter book contains a quote by a Tom Dearmore, taken from an article he wrote for New York Times Magazine entitled “First Angry Man of Country Singers”: “He is singing what’s inside of him, searching in a haunting way for a note that isn’t there.” I LOVE this quote, it describes his voice gorgeously.
Rewind several hours:
I was reading The Man Comes Around at 3am at IHOP. My waiter had dreads and we discussed books, Johnny Cash, road trips, Australia, and the spanish language. It was fun, nice, something you read about. I left him a $10 tip.