My grandfather gave me my first Johnny Cash tape.  He’s more of a Conway Twitty fan and thought that I could get more use of the cassette tape.  He was right.  I fell in love with Johnny Cash’s music personally, emotionally, and even spiritually.  Johnny Cash has that rare type of vocals that truly make you feel ever word that they’re singing.  Even when he hasn’t written the song, he emotes so much emotional and rawness that simply captivates me.  To me, he’s honest vocally and knows how to tell a redemptive story musically.

Though I’m a huge fan of his earlier stuff, his Rick Rubin-produced American albums are my favorite.  His second American album features covers of Soundgarden, Tom Petty, and Beck (among others).  On that album is my favorite Johnny Cash song of all time.  It’s a song called “Spiritual” written by Josh Haden of the band Spain.  I remember listening to the song on repeat at least 20 times when I first heard it.  I thought, “Now THAT’S spiritual, King David-like yearning.”  Not only is it lyrically superb, it also showcases some of Cash’s strong vocal abilities.  Take a listen to the song, it’s a good one…

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