Unchained (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unchained
Studio album by Johnny Cash
Released	November 5, 1996
Recorded	1995, 1996
Genre	Country
Length	41:11
Label	American Recordings/ Warner Bros. Records
Producer(s)	Rick Rubin
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Johnny Cash chronology
The Road Goes on Forever (1995)	Unchained (1996)	VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (1998)
American series chronology
American Recordings (1994)	Unchained (1996)	American III: Solitary Man (2000)

Unchained is the second album in Johnny Cash's American Recording series. On the album, Cash is backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Like all Cash's American albums, it is produced by Rick Rubin. Unchained focuses more on covers and less on original material than the first album in the series.

In addition to three of Cash's own compositions, Unchained contained songs by Soundgarden ("Rusty Cage") and Beck ("Rowboat"), as well as a guest appearance from Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album also included a cover of the classic 1962 Hank Snow song, "I've Been Everywhere", written by Geoff Mack.

Despite being virtually ignored by country music radio and the Nashville establishment, Unchained received a Grammy for Best Country Album. Cash and American Recordings posted a "thank you" to the Nashville country music industry in Billboard Magazine after winning the award in the form of the infamous photo of Johnny angrily giving the middle finger to the camera taken back in 1969 during his San Quentin prison performance. Cash allegedly chose the picture to illustrate his frustration with Nashville's simultaneous embrace of pop-oriented, new country artists like Garth Brooks and their abandonment of him and the other aging "country" artists who had defined the genre.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Rowboat" (Beck) – 3:44

   Originally recorded by Beck for Stereopathetic Soulmanure (1994)

2. "Sea of Heartbreak" (Hal David/Paul Hampton) – 2:42

   Originally a hit single for Don Gibson (1961)

3. "Rusty Cage" (Chris Cornell) – 2:49

   Originally recorded by Soundgarden for Badmotorfinger (1991)

4. "The One Rose (That's Left in My Heart)" (Del Lyon/Lani McIntire) – 2:26

   Originally published in 1936, also recorded by George Morgan and Hank Snow

5. "Country Boy" (Cash) – 2:31

   Originally recorded by Cash for Sun, appears on With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)

6. "Memories Are Made of This" (Richard Dehr/Terry Gilkyson/Frank Miller) – 2:19

   Originally a hit single by Dean Martin and the Easy Riders (1956)

7. "Spiritual" (Josh Haden) – 5:06

   Originally recorded by Spain for The Blue Moods of Spain (1995)

8. "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea" (Maybelle Carter/Anita Carter/Helen Carter/June Carter Cash) – 2:32

   Originally recorded by The Louvin Brothers for Satan is Real (1960)

9. "Southern Accents" (Tom Petty) – 4:41

   Originally recorded by Petty for Southern Accents (1985)

10. "Mean Eyed Cat" (Cash) – 2:33

    Originally recorded by Cash for Sun, appears on Sings Hank Williams (1960)

11. "Meet Me in Heaven" (Cash) – 3:21
12. "I Never Picked Cotton" (Bobby George/Charles Williams) – 2:39

    Originally recorded by Roy Clark for I Never Picked Cotton (1970)

13. "Unchained" (Jude Johnstone) – 2:51

    Later recorded by Johnstone for Coming of Age (2002)

14. "I've Been Everywhere" (Geoff Mack) – 3:17

    Originally a hit single by Lucky Starr (1959) and Hank Snow (1962)

[edit] Personnel

• Johnny Cash - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
• Tom Petty - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass, Chamberlain
• Mike Campbell - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar Bass, Dobro, Mandolin
• Marty Stuart - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass
• Lindsey Buckingham - Acoustic Guitar
• Howie Epstein - Acoustic Guitar, Bass
• Curt Bisquera, Steve Ferrone - Percussion, Drums
• Mick Fleetwood, Juliet Prater - Percussion
• Flea - Bass
• Benmont Tench - Organ, Organ (Hammond), Vox Organ, Piano, Harmonium, Chamberlain, Vox Continental

[edit] Additional personnel

• Rick Rubin - Producer
• David Ferguson - Engineer
• Sylvia Massy - Engineer, Mixing
• John Ewing Jr., Greg Fidelman, Eddie Miller, Michael Stock - Assistant Engineers
• Gene Grimaldi, Eddy Schreyer - Mastering
• Martyn Atkins - Art Direction, Photography
• Christine Cano - Art Direction, Design, Photography, Inlay Photography
• Andy Earl - Photography

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1996	The Billboard 200	170
1994	Top Country Albums	26

[edit] Awards

• Grammy Awards of 1998

Best Country Album

[edit] See also

• Johnny Cash discography

[edit] External links

• Luma Electronic's Johnny Cash discography listing

Johnny Cash

Studio albums With His Hot and Blue Guitar | Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous | The Fabulous Johnny Cash | Greatest! | Hymns by Johnny Cash | Songs of Our Soil | Sings Hank Williams | Ride This Train | Now, There Was a Song! | Now Here's Johnny Cash | The Lure of the Grand Canyon | Hymns from the Heart | The Sound of Johnny Cash | All Aboard the Blue Train | Blood, Sweat and Tears | Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash | The Christmas Spirit | I Walk the Line | Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian | Orange Blossom Special | Sings the Ballads of the True West | Everybody Loves a Nut | Happiness is You | Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter | From Sea to Shining Sea | Old Golden Throat | Heart of Cash | The Holy Land | More of Old Golden Throat | Hello, I'm Johnny Cash | Man in Black | A Thing Called Love | America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song | The Johnny Cash Family Christmas | Any Old Wind That Blows | Johnny Cash and His Woman | Ragged Old Flag | Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me | The Johnny Cash Children's Album | Sings Precious Memories | John R. Cash | Look at Them Beans | One Piece at a Time | The Last Gunfighter Ballad | The Rambler | I Would Like to See You Again | Gone Girl | Silver | A Believer Sings the Truth | Rockabilly Blues | Classic Christmas | The Baron | The Adventures of Johnny Cash | Johnny 99 | Highwayman | Rainbow | Believe in Him | Heroes | Class of '55 | Johnny Cash is Coming to Town | Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series | Water from the Wells of Home | Boom Chicka Boom | Highwayman 2 | The Mystery of Life | American Recordings | The Road Goes on Forever | Unchained | American III: Solitary Man | American IV: The Man Comes Around | American V: A Hundred Highways | American VI Live albums At Folsom Prison | At San Quentin | The Johnny Cash Show | På Österåker | Strawberry Cake | The Survivors Live | VH1 Storytellers | At Madison Square Garden Soundtrack albums I Walk the Line | Little Fauss and Big Halsy | The Gospel Road | Return to the Promised Land Compilation albums Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 | The World of Johnny Cash | Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | International Superstar | Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 | The Unissued Johnny Cash | Johnny & June | Tall Man | Encore | Love, God and Murder | The Essential Johnny Cash | Unearthed | The Legend | The Legend of Johnny Cash | Personal File | The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II Songs "25 Minutes to Go" | "A Boy Named Sue" | "Cat's in the Cradle" | "Cocaine Blues" | "Cry Cry Cry" | "Dark as a Dungeon" | "Engine 143" | "Folsom Prison Blues" | "Get Rhythm" | "Goodnight, Irene" | "Green Green Grass of Home" | "Greystone Chapel" | "Hey Porter" | "Home of the Blues" | "Hurt" | "I Walk the Line" | "In My Life" | "It Ain't Me Babe" | "Jackson" | "Like the 309" | "The Man Comes Around" | "One Piece at a Time" | "The One on the Right is on the Left" | "Remember the Alamo" | "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" | "Ring of Fire" | "What'd I Say" Family June Carter Cash | John Carter Cash | Rosanne Cash | Carlene Carter | Vivian Liberto | Tommy Cash | Carter Family Related articles Sun Records | Columbia Records | Mercury Records | American Recordings | Legacy Recordings | Lost Highway Records | Sam Phillips | Jack Clement | Rick Rubin | Carl Perkins | Jerry Lee Lewis | The Highwaymen | Waylon Jennings | Kris Kristofferson | Willie Nelson | Folsom Prison | San Quentin State Prison | Outlaw country | Tennessee Three | Shel Silverstein | Walk the Line | Man in Black | Cash: The Autobiography