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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

American V: A Hundred Highways
by Johnny Cash


9.6

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

The fifth and final of Cash's sessions with producer Rick Rubin was recorded shortly before the singer's 2003 death. Included among two Cash originals are covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen, Hank Williams, and more.

LABEL:	Lost Highway
RELEASE DATE:	04 July 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Country, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Observer Music Monthly

Virtually every song sounds like a leave-taking, though the overall mood is reflective and restrained, in places almost easy-going.

100

Stylus Magazine

It could be the soundtrack to death, love, pain, strength, joy, suffering, courage, despair, and faith all at the same time.

100

NOW Magazine

As with his last couple of releases in the American series, his voice no longer commands attention with booming authority, but there's something about that gasping frailty that makes this proud final bow even more endearing.

Filter

A hefty team was assembled to do this right... and do it right they do. [#21, p.93]

Entertainment Weekly

If this is, as Rubin has said, ''Johnny's final statement''... then it is a fitting one, completely representative of the faithful old man he had become, having long ago shed his outlaw image no matter how often others tried to resaddle him with it.

New Musical Express

Thank you very much, Mr Rubin--The Man In Black is still with us. [1 Jul 2006, p.36]

Paste Magazine

From beginning to end, it's as heartwarming and heartbreaking an album as you're likely to hear this year. [Aug 2006, p.86]

Spin

Though his delivery veers between strength and frailty, he's in full control. [Aug 2006, p.83]

Uncut

Unsurprisingly, American V is the most desolate of the series, bereft of the moments of playfulness that leavened its predecessors. [Aug 2006, p.92]

musicOMH.com

It is put together with a huge degree of dignity and respect that makes it the perfect swansong for the Man In Black.

Q Magazine

It makes a dignified final addition to the American Recordings series. [Aug 2006, p.109]

Rolling Stone

It's a hard record to bear, but it's a deep one.

Drowned In Sound

A fitting eulogy.

All Music Guide

Listening to this album, one can't get around the knowledge that it is a posthumous collection made in Cash's last days, but even without that context, it would have much the same impact.

The Guardian

V... is actually less tearjerking and portentous than IV.

Pitchfork

It's a satisfying and often moving final chapter to Cash's life and career, one that rejects self-pity and remorse in favor of hopefulness and even celebration.

Austin Chronicle

You never heard a sadder album than American V.

cokemachineglow

It’s a pleasant collection, comfortably consolidated and comfortably nice, despite the lack of anything earth-shattering.

Los Angeles Times

If the force-of-nature power of his prime is often missing, in its place is an undeniable resolve and faith in his mission. [25 Jun 2006]

The New York Times

The music isn't afraid to call for tears, but it does so through understatement. Cash's voice is always exposed, whether it's full-toned or faltering, and most of the tracks are folky and reverent, placing measured finger-picking above churchy chords.

PopMatters

If A Hundred Highways had kicked off Cash’s American resurgence, it might have been greeted as a minor release, a nice offering by an artist who was in his sunset years.

Billboard

Perhaps the most intimate of an intimate series.

Amazon.com

The songs have a measured, elegiac intensity, the sound of musicians choosing their notes carefully and making just the right choices.

Blender

Some selections are heartwrenching... But others bear the stain of sentimentality, denial, even exploitation. [Jul 2006, p.98]

Dot Music

This is not a 'commercial' release, at least not in the commonly construed meaning of the word. If you had to be picky, you could say that nothing has the impact of that cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt" or Nick Lowe's "The Beast In Me". But that's beside the point.

Mojo

The dignity and sharp poetic instincts on American V are all classic Cash. [Aug 2006, p.89]

ShakingThrough.net

No one expects an album full of songs about death to be fun, but overall this set feels more ponderous than it should.

E! Online

This set of songs comes with a chill of morbidity that's hard to shake.

Under The Radar

Highways is a far cry from what made this now deceased legend eternal. [#14]

The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

DecepticonPom gave it a9:
Unlike most of what I normally listen to, but this sent chills through me from the first play. The truly stunning sound of a man accepting of his own death. The Man In Black would have loved this album if he heard it recorded by another artist.

Merle H gave it a10:
John an I have been good friends since the mid 70's. This man is real. I feel as though i have had a priveledge knowing him and loving him. we love you, John. the Hag

Todd W gave it an8:
If this is the late Johnny's swan song, and his vaults say no, he once again puts all of today's "country" stars to shame, and I use that term very loosely. He also has something to say to those rock-n-rollers who long ago forgot that he was the original punk. If he can do this on the brink of eternity, why can't healthy mouth-breathers do anything viable other than run their mouths? All mankind is blacker upon his passing.

Chad M gave it a10:
This is a phenomanally haunting collection of songs. I actually think it is the best out of the 5 Americana albums. You can hear him struggling on quite a few songs which really puts where he was at the time of recording in perspective. This is as good as any album released so far this year.

mads l gave it an8:
the first half of this album is breathtakingly sublime...a shame that the last half is not half as good. But either way it's a fitting farewell to one of the true icons of western music

David Y gave it a10:
Johnny Cash never did set a foot wrong musically, and this record is no exception. Every song on the American series, Cash sings as if it's the last song he'll ever sing, which is spooky considering how close he was to his death recording this album. "Like The 309" nearly brought me to tears when I discovered this was the last song he ever wrote. True genius, which we will never see again...

andew b gave it a10:
As far as final words go, this is truly fitting. Not a hard hitting goodbye that overshadows any of his earlier works but a gentle whisper that leaves you reflecting on a lifetime of artistic achievment

American V: A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash

American V: A Hundred Highways
by Johnny Cash