My Mother's Hymn Book

Johnny Cash

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My Mother's Hymn Book Review

by Matt Collar

Originally included as part of the exhaustive Unearthed box set of Johnny Cash's American Records recordings, My Mother's Hymn Book is exactly what it claims to be -- songs directly out of Cash's mother's old hymnal. Featuring Cash alone playing an acoustic guitar, this is a stark, beautiful, and simple album. In the liner notes, Cash calls this his favorite record he's ever made and it's clear that learning these songs as a child is what inspired his love of music. In that sense, despite no original material, these are some of the most personal songs Cash ever recorded; he even includes song-by-song commentaries that help illuminate what each track meant to him. For Merle Travis' "I Am a Pilgrim" Cash writes, "It's one of those old country gospel classics that my mother sang, that I knew I would record it someday." Of course, Cash recorded gospel songs before this album, as in 1959 with Hymns by Johnny Cash and again in 1962 with Hymns From the Heart and he usually included one gospel track per album. Never before though had he focused so purely on his Christian roots, and given what is known about his problems with drug abuse and the break-up of his first marriage, these songs seem to ring with the conflicts of joy and sorrow, guilt and redemption. Although technically not Cash's last recording, My Mother's Hymn Book represents where his musical career began and ultimately where it ended.

Track Listing

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time	Stream
1	Where We'll Never Grow Old James C. Moore	Johnny Cash	03:31	Spotify Amazon
2	I Shall Not Be Moved	Johnny Cash	02:41	Spotify Amazon
3	I Am a Pilgrim Merle Travis	Johnny Cash	02:27	Spotify Amazon
4	Do Lord	Johnny Cash	02:12	Spotify Amazon
5	When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder James Black	Johnny Cash	01:36	Spotify Amazon
6	If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven Albert E. Brumley	Johnny Cash	02:31	Spotify Amazon
7	I'll Fly Away Albert E. Brumley	Johnny Cash	01:54	Spotify Amazon
8	Where the Soul of Man Never Dies William Lee Golden / Wayne Raney	Johnny Cash	02:15	Spotify Amazon
9	Let the Lower Lights Be Running	Johnny Cash	03:14	Spotify Amazon
10	When He Reached Down Marion Easterling / Thomas Wright	Johnny Cash	02:14	Spotify Amazon
11	In the Sweet By and By Sanford Fillmore Bennett / Joseph Philbrick Webster	Johnny Cash	02:25	Spotify Amazon
12	I'm Bound for the Promised Land	Johnny Cash	02:15	Spotify Amazon
13	In the Garden C. Austin Miles	Johnny Cash	03:18	Spotify Amazon
14	Softly and Tenderly Will L. Thompson	Johnny Cash	03:17	Spotify Amazon
15	Just as I Am William B. Bradbury / Charlotte Elliot	Johnny Cash	02:38	Spotify Amazon

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My Mother's Hymn Book Review

Track Listing

Johnny Cash Discography Browser