American IV: The Man Comes Around

Release type:What's this?
studio album
First released:
Nov 5 2002

Overview Edit

American IV: The Man Comes Around is the fourth album in the American series by Johnny Cash, released in 2002. The majority of songs are covers which Cash performs in his own sparse style, with help from producer Rick Rubin. For instance, for the song "Personal Jesus", Rubin asked Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante to re-work an acoustic version of Martin Gore's song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a blues style. He receives backing vocal assistance from various artists, including Fiona Apple, Nick Cave, and Don Henley. American IV was the final Cash album released during his lifetime; though the Unearthed Box Set was compiled prior to his death, it was not released until two months later. It was also his first non-compilation album to go gold (selling over 500,000 copies) in thirty years. Additionally, the album won "Album of the Year" award at the 2003 CMA Awards.

The video for "Hurt", a song written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails in 1994, was nominated in seven categories at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and won the award for Best Cinematography. In February 2003, mere days before his 71st birthday, Cash won another Grammy Award for Best Country Male Vocal Performance for "Give My Love To Rose," a song Cash had originally recorded in the late 1950s. The music video for "Hurt" also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video at the 2004 Awards.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor admitted that he was initially "flattered" but worried that "the idea [of Cash covering "Hurt"] sounded a bit gimmicky," but when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Reznor said he was deeply moved and found Cash's cover beautiful and meaningful.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_IV:_The_Man_Comes_Around. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
440 063 336-1
Release dates:
  • Nov 5 2002 in United States

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What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars One evening, the man came around
I am the least capable person to review this album. This man had been writing and singing songs for forty years and all I'd heard of him was "Ring Of Fire". I knew the song. I did not know who sang it. It was all but another one of these inevitable songs on every compilation, and one of these songs every channel my parents loved so much would play. I never noticed. Today, I still know hardly more.

One late-summer evening as I was zapping through the music channels here in The Netherlands, my thu…
Written by Bram Janssen
3 stars Peaks and Valleys
This is not a great album. As a lifelong, devoted listener to the words and music of Johnny Cash, and very aware of the personal circumstances in his life, I would much prefer to have written something a bit more triumphant. But that would just be dishonest.

So much filler. Well-intentioned stuff that just didn't work for whatever reason - maybe the wrong song for Cash's style, the wrong arrangement, or something more elusive. "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Personal Jesus", "The First Time Ever …
Written by Raymond Ullmer

Track listing Edit

Credits Edit

  1. arranger

    1. Johnny Cash ["Sam Hall," "Danny Boy," "Streets of Laredo"]
  2. design

    1. Christine Cano [art direction]
    2. Johnny Cash [liner notes]
    3. Martyn Atkins [photography]
  3. engineer

    1. Andrew Scheps [additional engineering]
    2. Chuck Turner [additional engineering]
    3. David Ferguson [recording and mix]
    4. John Carter Cash [additional engineering]
    5. Thom Russo [additional engineering]
  4. performer

    1. Benmont Tench [piano, organ, mellotron, harmonium, vibes, pipe organ, Wurlitzer]
    2. Billy Preston [piano on "Personal Jesus" and "Tear Stained Letter"]
    3. David Ferguson [ukulele on "Sam Hall"]
    4. Don Henley [vocals on "Desperado"]
    5. Fiona Apple [vocals on "Bridge over Troubled Water"]
    6. Jack Clement [dobro on "We'll Meet Again"]
    7. Jeff Hannah [acoustic guitar on "Desperado"]
    8. Joey Waronker [drums on "Tear Stained Letter"]
    9. John Frusciante [acoustic guitar on "Personal Jesus"]
    10. Johnny Cash [vocals on all songs, acoustic guitar on "Tear Stained Letter"]
    11. Kerry Marx [acoustic guitar on "Desperado" & "Tear Stained Letter"]
    12. Laura Cash [fiddle on "Streets of Laredo" & "We'll Meet Again"]
    13. Marty Stuart [acoustic guitar on "I Hung My Head"]
    14. Mike Campbell [acoustic guitar]
    15. Nick Cave [vocals on "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry"]
    16. Randy Scruggs [acoustic guitar on "The Man Comes Around," "Desperado," "Streets of Laredo" & "Tear Stained Letter"]
    17. Roger Joseph Manning Jr. [chamberlin, mellotron, piano, harmonium, orchestra bells, tack piano]
    18. Smokey Hormel [acoustic guitar, slide guitar]
    19. Terry Harrington [clarinet on "We'll Meet Again"]
    20. Thom Bresh [acoustic guitar on "We'll Meet Again"]
  1. producer

    1. Dwight Hume [production assistant]
    2. Jimmy Tittle [production assistant]
    3. John Carter Cash [associate producer]
    4. Laura Cash [production assistant]
  2. writer

    1. Don Henley ["Desperado"]
    2. Ewan MacColl ["First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"]
    3. Glenn Frey ["Desperado"]
    4. Hank Williams ["I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"]
    5. Hugh Charles ["We'll Meet Again"]
    6. John Lennon ["In My Life"]
    7. Johnny Cash ["The Man Comes Around," "Give My Love to Rose," "Tear Stained Letter"]
    8. Martin Gore ["Personal Jesus"]
    9. Paul McCartney ["In My Life"]
    10. Paul Simon ["Bridge Over Troubled Water"]
    11. Ross Parker ["We'll Meet Again"]
    12. Sting ["Hung My Head"]
    13. Trent Reznor ["Hurt"]

Other versions Edit

American IV: The Man Comes Around 15 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: American Recordings
catalog number: 063 339-2
release dates: 2002 in Europe
view details
American IV: The Man Comes Around 16 tracks format: 1 x CD
catalog number: 440 063 336-1
release dates: Apr 14 2003 in United Kingdom
view details
17 tracks format: 2 x vinyl
record label: American Recordings
catalog number: 440 063 336-1
release dates: 2002 in United States
view details
American IV: The Man Comes Around 15 tracks with bonus DVD
format: 1 x CD
catalog number: 440 063 336-1
release dates: Mar 4 2003
view details
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