New "Lost" 1980's-era Johnny Cash Album To Be Released In March

For Johnny Cash fans, Christmas has come early as the Cash family has announced that a never-before-heard album made for Columbia records in the early 1980's is going to finally be released.

Cash’s estate is releasing Out Among the Stars, an album he recorded with Billy Sherrill, on March 25.  Thanks to Cash being somewhat of a hoarder, the tapes have been recovered from the Cash family archives and will be released as the Man in Black would have originally wanted.

“They never threw anything away,” said their son, John Carter Cash. “They kept everything in their lives. They had an archive that had everything in it from the original audio tapes from ‘The Johnny Cash Show’ to random things like a camel saddle, a gift from the prince of Saudi Arabia. Dad was always uniquely himself. And later on the world would come back around. He never modified himself. But Nashville at the time was in a completely different place. It was the ‘Urban Cowboy’ phase. It was pop country, and dad was not that. I think him working with Billy was sort of an effort by the record company to put him more in the circle of Music Row and see what could happen at the heart of that machine.”

Backing Cash on the album is fellow Hargus “Pig” Robbins and a young friend of Cash’s by the name of Marty Stuart. The 12 tracks include a duet with Waylon Jennings and two with June Carter Cash as well.

“We were so excited when we discovered this,” Cash said. “We were like, my goodness this is a beautiful record that nobody has ever heard. Johnny Cash is in the very prime of his voice for his lifetime. He’s pitch perfect. It’s seldom where there’s more than one vocal take. They’re a live take and they’re perfect.”