Columbia Records drops country legend Johnny Cash after 26 years
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Under Rubin’s influence, Cash moved to a raw, stripped-down sound that proved to be enormously successful with critics, with country traditionalists and with hipster newcomers to country music. When his second Rubin-produced album, Unchained, won a Grammy for Best Country Album in 1998, American Recordings placed a full-page ad in Billboard magazine featuring a 1970 photo of Cash brandishing his middle finger. Underneath was this sarcastic line of copy: “American Recordings and Johnny Cash would like to acknowledge the Nashville music establishment and country radio for your support.”
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Outside the gates of Folsom Prison.
Oddly, perhaps, “American Recordings” was the first Johnny Cash album I ever bought, despite the huge catalog that preceded it. Stripped down, just Johnny and a guitar, mostly. Powerful stuff.