Ain't No Grave • Traditional
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna get up out of the ground
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Oh, well, look down yonder Gabriel
Look down on land and see
But Gabriel don’t you blow that trumpet
Until you hear from me
Oh I looked on down the river
Well do you think I see
I see a band of angels lord
They’re coming after me
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna get up out of the ground
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Oh I’m going down to Jordan
I’m going to bury my knees in the sand
I’m going to holler out johsanna
I’m going to reach that promised land
So now meet me Jesus meet me
Yeah, meet me in the middle of the air
And if these wings won’t carry me
I won’t need another pair.
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna get up out of the ground
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Oh there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
No there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I’m gonna get up out of the ground
Well there ain’t no grave
Gonna hold my body down
Ain’t gonna hold my body down
Ain’t gonna hold my body down
Ain’t gonna hold my body down
Ain’t gonna hold my body down
Ain’t gonna hold my body down
The Final Chapter. The Last Recordings.
American VI: Ain't No Grave, the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series, will be officially released on February 26, 2010 (American
Recordings/Lost Highway), the day that would have been The Man in Black's 78th birthday. As was the case with the previous five albums in the American Recordings series, American VI was produced
by Rick Rubin.
American VI is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song serving as its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges, the pursuit of salvation, the importance of friendships, the
dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival. It is an achingly personal and intimate statement from the end of the line, as Johnny Cash looks back
on a most extraordinary life.
The songs on American VI are drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow's moving "Redemption Day," close Cash friend Kris
Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan's "Cool Water," the hopeful "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream" by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red
Hayes and Jack Rhodes's "Satisfied Mind," Queen Lili'uokalani's song of farewell, "Aloha Oe," and the never before heard Cash original, "I Corinthians: 15:55," written over the last three years
of his life. Release date: February 23, 2010
Track Listing:
1. Ain’t No Grave
2. Redemption Day
3. For The Good Times
4. First Corinthians
5. Where I’m Bound
6. Satisfied Mind
7. It Don’t Hurt Anymore
8. Cool Clear Water
9. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
10. Aloha
http://www.johnnycash.com/
Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave, featuring the final recordings the Man in Black ever made before his death in September 2003,
will be released via American Recordings and Lost Highway on February 26th, the day that would have marked Cash’s 78th birthday. Like the previous LPs in the American series,
Rick Rubin produced the sixth installment.
Covers on the set include Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day,” Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times,” Ed McCurdy’s “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream”
and Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water.”American VI will also feature the never-before-heard Cash original “I Corinthians: 15:55,” which he wrote during the last three years of his life.
Cash began recording American VI in 2002 and worked up until his September 12th, 2003 death. Cash stuck with the project even after the death his wife June Carter in May
2003. “Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive. I think it was the only thing that kept him going,” Rubin said in a statement.
Check out
classic photos of Johnny Cash.
Guitarists Mike Campbell, Matt Sweeney, Jonny Polonsky and Smokey Hormel and keyboardist Benmont Tench join Cash on American VI, and the
Avett Brothers’ Seth and Scott contribute to the title song “Ain’t No Grave.” As this album represents the last of Cash’s recordings,American VI will be the final installment of
anAmerican series that dates back to 1994. BothAmerican III: Solitary Man and the American Recordings box set Unearthed were among Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Albums of the
Decade.
(Rolling stone )
NOW AVAILABLE: Johnny Cash's American VI: Ain't No Grave
American VI: Ain't No Grave - Available Today!
Here's what the critics are saying:
“A” -Entertainment
Weekly
“Still a powerful presence to the end” -People
“4 Stars”- The Independent
“Some guys just know the right way to say goodbye” –Billboard
“4 Stars” –The Sunday Times
“3.5 out of 4 stars” – The Chicago Tribune
Don’t forget to wear black for Johnny’s birthday this Friday
American VI: Ain't No Grave,
the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series, will be officially released on February 26, 2010 (American Recordings/Lost Highway), the
day that would have been The Man in Black's 78th birthday. As with the previous five albums in the American Recordings series, American
VI was produced by Rick Rubin.
American VI is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges - the pursuit of salvation, the importance of
friendships, the dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival. It is an achingly personal and intimate statement, as, from the end of the line,
Johnny Cash looks back on a most extraordinary life.
The songs on American VI are drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow's moving
"Redemption Day," close Cash friend Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan's "Cool Water," the hopeful "Last Night I had the
Strangest Dream" by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes's "Satisfied Mind," Queen Lili'uokalani's song of farewell, "Aloha Oe," and the never before heard Cash original, "I Corinthians:
15:55," written over the last three years of his life.
American VI was recorded by Cash's long-time engineer, David "Fergie" Ferguson, and, as with its American
V predecessor, tracked at the Cash Cabin Studio in Henderson, TN, and at Akadamie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound Research in Los Angeles, CA. Guitarist Mike Campbell and
keyboardist Benmont Tench, who played on all of the series' albums sans the first one, were joined in the studio by guitarists Matt Sweeney and Jonny Polonsky, as well as Smokey Hormel, who also
played on American IV and V. In addition, The Avett Brothers' Scott and Seth made cameo appearances on the track "Ain't No Grave."
Cash and Rubin recorded many songs between the completion of American IV: The Man
Comes Around in 2002 right up until September 12, 2003, the day Cash passed. Songs recorded during this time frame were released in 2006 as American V: A Hundred Highways, and now this final grouping of songs, American
VI: Ain't No Grave, ends the series that began in 1994 with American
Recordings.
During these sessions, in May of 2003, less than four months before he passed, Cash lost his wife June Carter Cash due to surgical complications. According to Rubin, "Johnny said that recording
was his main reason for being alive. I think it was the only thing that kept him going."
Cash feared that American IV might be his last release, so Rubin suggested that he immediately begin writing and recording new
material. Due to the artist’s frail condition, Rubin arranged for an engineer and guitar players to always be on call. “Every morning, when he’d wake up, he would call the engineer and tell him
if he was physically up to working that day,” Rubin explains.
During those months, Rubin went to Nashville several times to record with Cash. After a particularly productive four days of sessions, the artist said to the producer, “Oh, this is great; please
stay longer.” So Rubin canceled his return flight to L.A., only to get a call the next morning that Cash was back in the hospital. “So there was a lot of stopping and starting, based on his
health,” says Rubin. “But he always wanted to work. The doctors in the hospital kind of lectured me, saying, ‘He’s not going to stop, so you have to make sure he doesn’t work
too much.’”
Though Cash knew his days were short, “There was no fear,” Rubin says. “I remember speaking to him maybe an hour after June died. He was in the hospital, with her, and I’d
never heard him so distraught. And he said, ‘You know, I’ve been through tremendous pain in my life, and I’ve never felt anything like this.’ It was so bad that I didn’t know what to say. He
sounded so weak, so beaten, and I’d never really heard him like that before. I’m not sure where the question came from, but I said, ‘Do you feel like somewhere you can find faith?’ And when he
heard that word, a switch went off in his head, and he answered in a strong voice, ‘My faith is UNSHAKABLE.’ And the conversation changed after that. So he had tremendous faith, he didn’t really
have fear and he already was dealing with pain; I think he had acceptance. When he knew he was going to die, he was calm and matter of fact about it, and…that was it.”
"Ain't No Grave," the title track, speaks to the overall theme of the album - "Well there ain't no grave/Can hold my body down..." American
VI may be his final album of new material, The Man in Black may no longer walk this Earthly realm, but through his music, thankfully, Johnny Cash is very much alive and well and
living among us.
(Lost highway records)
