Out Among the Stars – 2014
Out Among the Stars is a posthumous studio album from Johnny Cash, released through Legacy Recordings on March 25, 2014. The recordings come from lost 1980s sessions with famed countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill which were shelved by Cash’s record company, Columbia Records, and discovered by Cash’s son John Carter Cash in 2012. Cash also recorded the 1981 album The Baron with Sherrill in an attempt to turn around his dismal album sales but the strategy did not work, leaving his record executives eager to end his affiliation with the label. The album also doubles as a posthumous release for singer June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash’s wife, who is featured on vocals on two tracks, and for Minnie Pearl and Waylon Jennings, who provide vocals on two other songs.
Two of the tracks would later be rerecorded by Cash at American Recordings and would be released posthumously prior to earlier versions being included here; “I Came to Believe” on American V: A Hundred Highways and a non-duet version of “I’m Movin’ On” appears in the box set Unearthed.
Track listing
“Out Among the Stars” (Adam Mitchell) – 3:02
“Baby Ride Easy” (Richard Dobson) – 2:43
“She Used to Love Me a Lot” (Kye Fleming, Dennis Morgan, Charles Quillen) – 3:11
“After All” (Charles Cochran, Sandy Mason) – 2:47
“I’m Movin’ On” (Hank Snow) – 3:09
“If I Told You Who It Was” (Bobby Braddock, Curly Putman) – 3:05
“Call Your Mother” (Cash) – 3:17
“I Drove Her Out of My Mind” (Gary Gentry, Hillman Hall) – 3:01
“Tennessee” (Rick Scott) – 3:27
“Rock and Roll Shoes” (Paul Kennerley, Graham Lyle) – 2:41
“Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time” (Tommy Collins) – 2:17
“I Came to Believe” (Cash) – 3:29
“She Used to Love Me a Lot” (JC/EC Version) (Kye Fleming, Dennis Morgan, Charles Quillen) – 3:23
Personnel
Compiled from liner notes.
Original session musicians
Johnny Cash – vocals, guitar
Pete Bordonali – guitar
Jerry Carrigan – guitar
June Carter Cash – duet on “Baby Ride Easy” and “Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time”
Pete Drake – steel guitar
Jerry Kennedy – guitar
Waylon Jennings – duet on “I’m Movin’ On”
Kenny Malone – drums
Terry McMillan – harmonica
Weldon Myrick – steel guitar
Minnie Pearl – vocals on “If I Told You Who It Was”
Hargus “Pig” Robbins – piano
Billy Sanford – guitar
Dale Sellers – guitar
Henry Strzelecki – bass guitar
Marty Stuart – guitar, mandolin
John C. Williams – bass guitar
Bobby Wood – piano
Robert Wray – guitar
Additional musicians on 2013 sessions
Niko Bolas – percussion
Sam Bush – mandolin on “Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time”
Carlene Carter – background vocals on “Baby, Ride Easy”
Laura Cash – fiddle
Jerry Douglas – Dobro
Mark Fain – upright bass on “Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time”
Tony Harrell – keyboards
Rick Lonow – percussion
Buddy Miller – guitar
Pat McLaughlin – guitar
Marty Stuart – guitar, mandolin
Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar and banjo on “Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time”
T. Blade – percussion
Additional backing vocals by the “Cash Cabin Vocal Group” and the full student body of Sumner Academy of Gallatin, Tennessee.
Technical
Steve Berkowitz – production (additional recording)
Niko Bolas – mixing
John Carter Cash – production (additional recording)
Lou Robin – executive production
Joseph M. Palmaccio – mastering
Billy Sherrill – production (original sessions)
Chuck Turner – engineering
Nathan Yarborough – additional mixing