ABC/Randy HolmesFollowing Chris Cornell‘s death last May, it was revealed that the late Soundgarden frontman had contributed to a forthcoming Johnny Cash tribute album. Now, the details of the collection have been announced.
Titled Johnny Cash: Forever Words, the album features contemporary artists setting the country icon’s poetry, lyrics and letters to music. It’ll arrive on April 6.
Cornell recorded a piece called “You Never Knew My Mind.” Other musicians who contributed to Forever Words include Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and Jewel, plus modern country artists Kacey Musgraves and Brad Paisley. Additionally, the album features Cash’s daughter Rosanne Cash and his stepdaughter, Carlene Carter.
“Determining the artist for each song was truly a matter of the heart,” says Cash’s son John Carter Cash, who co-produced Forever Words. “I picked the artists who are most connected with my father, who had a personal story that was connected with Dad.”
He adds, “It became an exciting endeavor to go through these works, to put them together and present them to different people who could finish them in a way that I believed that Dad would have wanted.”
Cash previously recorded a cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” for his 1996 album, Unchained.
Here is the Johnny Cash: Forever Words track list:
“Forever/I Still Miss Someone” — Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson
“To June this Morning” — Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves
“Gold All Over the Ground” — Brad Paisley
“You Never Knew My Mind” — Chris Cornell
“The Captain’s Daughter” — Alison Krauss and Union Station
“Jellico Coal Man” — T. Bone Burnett
“The Walking Wounded” — Rosanne Cash
“Them Double Blues” — John Mellencamp
“Body on Body” — Jewel
“I’ll Still Love You” — Elvis Costello
“June’s Sundown” — Carlene Carter
“He Bore It All” — Daily and Vincent
“Chinky Pin Hill” — I’m With Her
“Goin’, Goin’, Gone” — Robert Glasper featuring Ro James, and Anu Sun
“What Would I Dreamer Do?” — The Jayhawks
“Spirit Rider” — Jamey Johnson
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