• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
    • RadioThon
  • App
    • App – English
    • App -Spanish
    • App – French
    • App – German
    • App – Portuguese
  • Music
    • Acid Flashback – Streaming Internet Radio
    • Guest DJ’s
    • Psychedelic Time Warp
    • The Jukebox Series from Eric Berman
    • Song of the Day
    • 3D RadioActivity
    • Vinyl Schminyl Radio
    • Zecom Radio – The Choice
    • Zecom Radio – GEMZ
  • Sports
    • SportsTwitter.net
    • SportsAudio.net Archives
  • Home Improvement USA Radio
  • Entertainment
    • Podcasts
  • About Us
    • Contact Information
    • Business Services
    • Email Sign Ups

You are here: Home / Music / Alternative / Song Of The Day – “The Mercy Seat” by Johnny Cash

Song Of The Day – “The Mercy Seat” by Johnny Cash

September 21, 2019 by Eric Berman

johnnycashamericanIIIBy the year 2000 and the third album in the American series, Johnny Cash had reestablished himself as one of the greatest singers, not just in country music, but in all music. Producer, Rick Rubin, began working with him several years before and allowed Johnny Cash do what he did best in the studio…be JOHNNY CASH!

Cash began working with Rick Rubin in 1994. Rubin was the founder  of Def Jam Records, and was responsible for producing seminal recordings by Public Enemy and The Beastie Boys. It must have taken quite a leap of faith for Johnny Cash to, not only work with Rick Rubin who was much younger than him, but to put his career in hia hands.

When they first began working together, Cash’s career was pretty much over. He had recorded several ho-hum records for Mercury Records during the mid-to-late 1980s that were nothing special, and even resorted to re-recording some of his older hits for the label. I caught Cash in concert in a small New York City bar back in 1986 when he was touring behind the album Water From The Wells Of Home. His career was so far off the mark, that the place was not even half full, although I must say that he was terrific. The performance was marred by his proclivity to allow his son and wife to take precious concert time away from the main attraction, in order for them to perform their own second-rate material.

Rubin’s whole modus operandi  with Cash was to make bare guitar and voice recordings that would highlight what a great interpreter of material he was. In doing so, Rubin sent Cash tapes of songs he liked, exposing him to material he had never heard by the likes of Tom Petty, Beck, Soundgarden, U2 and Nick Cave, who wrote today’s Song Of The Day.

For American III: Solitary Man,  Rubin assembled an all-star list of backing musicians including Norman Blake, Mike Campbell, Randy Scruggs and Marty Stuart on guitar, Tom Petty, Merle Haggard and Shreyl Crow on backing vocals and Bentmont Tench on organ. “The Mercy Seat”  is probably Cash’s most harrowing recording, even more so than Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ original from their 1988 album Tender Prey.

Of the five American Recordings albums, not to mention the five CD Cash Unearthed box set with more Rubin/Cash collaborations, the American III: Solitary Man album is one of the most enjoyable on every level mainly because of its superb choice of cover songs by Tom Petty (“I Won’t Back Down”), Neil Diamond (“Solitary Man”) and U2 (“One”).  Together, Cash and Rubin formulated a record that kept Johnny Cash not only relevant with the hip cognoscenti,  but also true to himself as a recording artist.

And as for what Nick Cave thought about Cash’s cover, his pride oozes out of every word in the following quote… “It doesn’t matter what anyone says, Johnny Cash recorded my song.”

Filed Under: Alternative, Classic Rock, Country, Experimental, Folk, Gospel, Music, Popular, Song of the Day Tagged With: American, American III: Solitary Man, Def Jam, Folk, Johnny Cash, Music, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Rick Rubin, Song Of The Day by Eric Berman, Tender Prey, The Mercy Seat

About Eric Berman

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

What you don’t see on this site:

Obnoxious ads, click bait, annoying popups.

That’s because we respect your right to get information, hear good music, and enjoy your time surfing without being bombarded, or forced to close the popups.

All we ask is to tell more people about InternetFM, and if you feel generous, please drop something in the tip jar.

Contributions can be used towards any future subscription service we may offer in the future.

More to See

Now Again 3D

January 12, 2021 By Marty Masters

RadioActivity Now

January 4, 2021 By Marty Masters

How to Contact In Studio

When we are live on the air to request a song or leave a comment:

email: acidflashback [at] internetfm [dot] com

phone: Google Voice- +1 224-662-1240

discord: https://discord.gg/9KPPEZCr
#live-show-feedback

Footer

Tags

AC/DC Aerosmith Black Sabbath Blues Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen Chicago Chicago Bears Classic Rock Country David Bowie Elton John Elvis Presley Eric Clapton Folk Genesis Green Bay Packers Jazz Jimi Hendrix John Lennon King Crimson Led Zeppelin Links - Rock and Roll Music NFL Paul McCartney Pink Floyd Pop Queen R'n'B Roxy Music Rush Song Of The Day by Eric Berman Soul The Allman Brothers Band The Beatles The Doors The Grateful Dead The Jukebox Series The Rolling Stones The Who U2 Van Halen Yes ZZ Top

Recent

  • Radioactive Healing
  • Today in Rock History – January 19
  • Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – "Ja Funmi" by King Sunny Ade and his African Beats
  • Today in Rock History – January 18
  • Today in Rock History – January 17

Search

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress ·