Johnny Cash-Out Among The Stars

Let's face it, country music isn't what it used to be, now that Bro Country and the odious crap that KHAK plays most of the time irradiates the hell out of me and it's not getting any better. Jarrod Niemann, who started out full of promise a few years ago is now going to the lowest common denominator by enlisting Pitbull on his latest bro country attempt to fit in.  But did you notice that one week last month that Johnny Cash's latest hit number 1 through all the bile that's on the chart?  A small victory considering that the Man in Black has been dead for 10 and half years.

Johnny's 80s tenure at Columbia was his worst selling time, but not that the albums were bad.  They were actually fairly good although Johnny 99 (1983) turned out to be such a disappointment that Columbia sat on the next effort which was called Out Among The Stars and was all but forgotten when Johnny's son came across it by accident.

The album itself stands way out in front of the crowd despite it's 30 years in the vaults and is a classic compared to Luke Bryan and his Bro Country compares.  But had it been released in 1984 it would have been merely a fairly good album from Cash.  The major change was that Billy Sherrill, staff producer to the CBS roster took over for Brian Ahern and Billy uses his usual Nashville type production throughout the recording.  Some cheese is heard, the kiddie choir that ends Tennessee, the second duet with June Carter Cash on Don't You Think It's Come Our Time which may have been the closest thing they recorded a Hall mark card like song but thankfully Sherrill didn't dump the album in syrupy strings which he's been known to do with George Jones.  Sherrill doesn't do Cash any favors with some of the Nashville sessionmen used; Kenny Malone crashing his cymbals way too many times on songs that didn't need a cymbal crash  (this isn't the Ramones for fuck's sake)  but then again it doesn't hurt to have Marty Stuart play on this either.

Nevertheless, Johnny Cash delivers his usual top notch vocal work, even return to the story song telling he's famous for, If I Told You Who It Was, featuring Minnie Pearl, who's vocal seems to be buried more into the mix than usual but otherwise that's nitpicking.  The favorites remain the title track, a very tongue in cheek I Drove Her Out Of My Mind which deals with a new Cadillac and the last date with his woman over the mountain, which may have been too black of a humor back in 84 but in this day and age it'd still kick the shit out of anything Brantley Gilbert would come up.  And Baby Ride Easy originally done by Carlene Carter and Dave Edmunds, Johnny and June do a nice version of their own.  However, the Elvis Costello produced bonus track of She Used To Love Me A Lot is pointless. It's really not needed here.

Overall, Out Among The Stars isn't a classic but rather a up to date in the times (in 1984 mind you) and Johnny is in fine form here despite the cymbal happy drummer and dated 80's production.  The version of I'm Moving On with Waylon Jennings would lead them to record Johnny's last Columbia album, the uneven Heroes with Jennings.  Even from the grave, Cash remains a force to be reckon with. Take notes Luke Bryan.

Grade B+