Johnny Cash's Final Album Set For Release

American VI: Ain't No Grave, the final album Johnny Cash recorded before his death, will be released Feb. 26. The date coincides with what would have been Cash's 78th birthday.

The project features spiritual themes, from faith and friendship to seeking salvation. The songs include Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day," Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan's "Cool Water," "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream" by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes's "Satisfied Mind," Queen Lili'uokalani's "Aloha Oe" and the never before heard Cash original, "I Corinthians: 15:55," written over the last three years of his life.

Many tracks on the record were recorded in May 2003, four months prior to Cash's death, and during the time when Cash lost his wife, June Carter Cash. "He always wanted to work," said Cash's producer, Rick Rubin, in a statement. "The doctors in the hospital kind of lectured me, saying, ‘He’s not going to stop, so you have to make sure he doesn’t work too much.’
"Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive. I think it was the only thing that kept him going," Rubin said.

Ain't No Grave is the sixth release in a series of recordings Cash did with American Recordings from 1994 to 2003.