Sunday, March 23, 2014

Till Things Are Brighter

In two days the world
will hear a new-to-them
Johnny Cash recording

from 1984 called
"Out Among the Stars"

the album which
Columbia Records
deemed probable cause
for dropping him
from the label.

Johnny's son John Cash
discovered the tracks
when his father died in 2003
and invited

the original guitarist
Marty Stuart to lay down
new guitar solos

dobro master
Jerry Douglas to add
much-needed "twang"

and Carlene Carter
one of June's daughters
from a previous marriage

to add a third harmony
to "Baby Ride Easy".

Though the record
is unlikely to knock
"Happy" Pharrell
off the charts

John believes
it serves a purpose
and says of his late dad
the Man in Black

"He was a man of a lot of laughter.
Why not let the light endure?"

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.