American III: Solitary Man

American III: Solitary Man is a studio album by Johnny Cash. It was released on October 17, 2000, by American Recordings. It is the third album in Cash's American series.

American III: Solitary Man
Studio album by
Johnny Cash
ReleasedOctober 17, 2000
Recorded2000
StudioCash Cabin Studio (Hendersonville, Tennessee), Akadémie Mathématique of Philosophical Sound Research (Los Angeles, California)
Genre
  • Country
  • Americana
  • acoustic rock
  • Southern gothic
Length42:15
LabelAmerican
Producer
Johnny Cash chronology
Love, God and Murder
(2000)		 American III: Solitary Man
(2000)		 Return to the Promised Land
(2000)
American series chronology
Unchained
(1996)		 American III: Solitary Man
(2000)		 American IV: The Man Comes Around
(2002)

Background

Between American II: Unchained and American III: Solitary Man, Cash's health declined due to various ailments, and he was even hospitalized for pneumonia, and the illness forced him to curtail his touring. This album contained Cash's response to his illness, typified by a version of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", as well as a version of U2's "One". Changes to Cash's voice due to his health problems are noticeable on most tracks when compared to his most recent preceding albums. Graeme Thomson has characterized "Solitary Man" as an act of emotional preservation.[1]

Previous recordings

Three songs featured on the album had previously been recorded by Cash.

  • "Field of Diamonds" was previously recorded by Cash with Waylon Jennings for their 1986 album Heroes.
  • "Country Trash" was previously recorded by Cash for his 1973 album Any Old Wind That Blows.
  • "I'm Leavin' Now" was previously recorded by Cash for his 1985 album Rainbow.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert Christgau[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
Pitchfork(8.6/10)[5]

American III: Solitary Man received mostly positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 15 reviews.[6] In a positive review for Entertainment Weekly, David Browne gave the album a Grade A rating, saying, "Though the Man in Black has rarely sounded blacker, producer Rick Rubin frames that deep sea voice with harmonies and churchly organs, making for a dark angel beauty of an album that's austere but welcoming." A review from Sonicnet praised Cash's ability to interpret songs and make them his own, saying, "When a tune falls into the jurisdiction of the venerable country-folk troubadour, the accumulated details of any previous readings or associations are stripped away, and its core brilliantly revealed." A review published by Billboard said the album "may lack the immediate impact of its predecessors but is no less a masterpiece." Splendid said that "the covers on American III will attract the majority of listener attention; Cash's own material steals the show."

Rolling Stone gave a mixed review, saying that "the onus here lies on the production...Rick Rubin's work is too timid; mostly, the shy combos of guitar, fiddle and accordion, or Benmont Tench's subliminal contributions on keyboards, make up the kind of severe meal that one is forced to think of as tasteful." In a mixed review, the A.V. Club said, "Like Neil Young's Silver And Gold, it feels like a thematically empty, knockabout place-holder. American Recordings, one of Cash's towering classics, was all devotion and doubt, a brilliant, raw-boned meditation on redemption and death. A loose, flat set of odds and ends, Solitary Man is merely a minor but endearing record from a man who seems to know he's given more than enough." The Spin Cycle called the album "mixed, leaning at times to inadvertent novelty."

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart and No. 88 on the US Billboard 200.

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Won't Back Down" (with Tom Petty)Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne2:09
2."Solitary Man"Neil Diamond2:25
3."That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)"Haven Gillespie, Beasley Smith2:35
4."One"Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen3:53
5."Nobody"Bert Williams3:14
6."I See a Darkness" (with Will Oldham)Will Oldham3:42
7."The Mercy Seat"Nick Cave, Mick Harvey4:35
8."Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)"David Allan Coe2:41
9."Field of Diamonds"Johnny Cash, Jack Wesley Routh3:15
10."Before My Time"Cash2:55
11."Country Trash"Cash1:47
12."Mary of the Wild Moor"Dennis Turner2:32
13."I'm Leavin' Now" (with Merle Haggard)Cash3:07
14."Wayfaring Stranger"Traditional3:19
Total length:42:15

Personnel
  • Johnny Cash – vocals, guitar
  • Martyn Atkins – photography
  • Norman Blake – guitar
  • Billy Bowers – digital editing
  • Mike Campbell – guitar
  • John Carter Cash – associate producer
  • June Carter Cash – vocals (9)
  • Laura Cash – fiddle
  • Lindsay Chase – production coordinator
  • Danny Clinch – photography
  • David Coleman – art direction
  • Sheryl Crow – vocals (9), accordion (12, 14)
  • Richard Dodd – additional engineering
  • David Ferguson – engineer, mixing
  • Merle Haggard – guitar, vocals (13)
  • Will Oldham – vocals (6)
  • Larry Perkins – guitar
  • Tom Petty – vocals, organ (1), vocals (2)
  • Rick Rubin – producer
  • D. Sardy – additional engineering
  • David Schiffman – additional engineering, mixing (9)
  • Eddie Schreyer – mastering
  • Randy Scruggs – guitar
  • Marty Stuart – guitar
  • Benmont Tench – piano, organ, harmonium
  • Chuck Turner – digital editing

Chart positions
Chart (2000) Peak
position
US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 11
US Billboard 200 88

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[7] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[8] N/A 186,000[9]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Accolades
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2001 "Solitary Man" Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance Won
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gollark: I mean, I get 25ms ping, but the actual bandwidth is terrible.
gollark: ^
gollark: Which is kind of to be expected, but a bit demotivating in my hunting of stuff.
gollark: Great. I was wondering whether there just weren't rareish ones to get or I was missing them... now I'm pretty sure I'm missing them...

References
  1. Thomson, G. (2011). The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings. Jawbone Press, pp. 218-219.
  2. Johnson, Zac. "American III: Solitary Man – Johnny Cash". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  3. "Robert Christgau: CG: johnny cash". www.robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2017-08-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1332-american-iii-solitary-man/
  6. "American III: Solitary Man by Johnny Cash". Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  7. "British album certifications – Johnny Cash – Solitary man". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Solitary man in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  8. "American album certifications – Johnyn Cash – Solitary man". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  9. "8ask". Billboard. 19 February 2003. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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