American II: Unchained

The first four songs on Unchained come from the songbooks of Beck, Don Gibson, Soundgarden, and Jimmie Rodgers.

What might look like absurdly unsupportable eclecticism in other artists, of course, is pretty much standard stuff for Cash. Unchained is hardly standard, though; it's more like the best album he's made since his 1984 departure from Columbia records.

Not only is this a stack of songs perfectly and idiosyncratically suited to the man, they're given door-rattling backing treatment by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who prove as fitting for Cash's music as his own Tennessee two was back in the day.

Cat: 5346143
Label: Universal

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Tracklist

1. "Rowboat" (Beck cover) 
2. "Sea of Heartbreak" (Don Gibson cover) 
3. "Rusty Cage" (Soundgarden cover) 
4. "The One Rose (That's Left in My Heart)" (Jimmie Rodgers cover) 
5. "Country Boy" 
6. "Memories Are Made of This" (Dean Martin cover) 
7. "Spiritual" (Spain cover) 
8. "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea" (The Carter Sisters cover) 
9. "Southern Accents" (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover) 
10. "Mean Eyed Cat" 
11. "Meet Me in Heaven" 
12. "I Never Picked Cotton" (Roy Clark cover) 
13. "Unchained" (Jude Johnstone cover) 
14. "I've Been Everywhere" (Lucky Starr cover)