Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian To See Special Release Celebrating it's 50th Anniversary

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Of all the dozens of albums released by Johnny Cash during his nearly half-century career, 1964's Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian was among the closest to the artist's heart.

A concept album focusing on the mistreatment and marginalization of the Native American people throughout the history of the United States, its eight songs--among them "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," a #3 hit single for Cash on the Billboard country chart--spoke in frank and poetic language of the hardships and intolerance they endured.

Now, 50 years after it was recorded, a collective of top Americana artists has come together to reimagine and update these songs that meant so much to Cash, who died in 2003.

Look Again To The Wind: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited (Sony Music Masterworks, August 19), produced by Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville), features American music giants Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Bill Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and Norman and Nancy Blake, as well as up-and-comers the Milk Carton Kids and Rhiannon Giddens, interpreting the music of Bitter Tears for a new generation.

As his project was for Cash, the is a labor of love with a strong sense of purpose fueling its creation.

"Prior to Bitter Tears, the conversation about Native American rights had not really been had," says Henry, "and at a very significant moment in his trajectory, Johnny Cash was willing to draw a line and insist that this be considered a human rights issue, alongside the civil rights issue that was coming to fruition in 1964.

But he also felt that the record had never been heard, so there's a real sense that we're being asked to carry it forward."

Bitter Tears, widely acknowledged for decades as one of Cash's greatest artistic achievements, did not realize its stature as a landmark recording easily and quickly. At the time that Cash proposed the album, he was met with a great deal of resistance from his record label.

They felt that a song cycle revolving around the Native American struggle as perpetrated by the white man took him too far afield of the country mainstream and Cash's core audience.

Cash still released the album and although it did not perform as well as he had hoped, he remained extremely proud of the album throughout his life.

Ironically, at the same time that his own label was balking because it felt he would alienate the country audience with his Native American tales, Cash was finding a new set of admirers among the burgeoning folk music crowd that had recently made stars of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary. Cash's debut performance of "Ira Hayes" at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival had earned him rave reviews.

His appeal was undeniably expanding beyond the country audience, and for those who did connect with Bitter Tears, among them a 17-year-old aspiring singer-songwriter named Emmylou Harris, its music was revelatory and important.

"The record was a seminal work for her as a teenager," says Henry.

"She bought the album brand new and realized at that moment that Johnny Cash was a folk singer, not a country singer, and was involving himself politically and socially in a way that she had identified with the great folk singers at that moment."

He also realized that the Bitter Tears album held a special place in Cash's canon, and that in many ways the issues it raised still resonate today--this had to be apparent in the new versions.

"Mr. Cash knew that if he took this on, even if his point of view was not adopted, he had the power to be heard," Henry says.

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait, Masterworks Broadway and Flying Buddha imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.SonyMasterworks.com.

TRACKLIST:

1. As Long as the Grass Shall Grow - feat. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
2. Apache Tears - feat. Emmylou Harris w/The Milk Carton Kids
3. Custer - feat. Steve Earle w/The Milk Carton Kids
4. The Talking Leaves - feat. Nancy Blake w/ Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
5. The Ballad of Ira Hayes - feat. Kris Kristofferson w/ Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
6. Drums - feat.

Norman Blake w/ Nancy Blake, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
7. Apache Tears (Reprise) - feat. Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
8. White Girl - feat. The Milk Carton Kids
9. The Vanishing Race - feat.

Rhiannon Giddens
10. As Long as the Grass Shall Grow (Reprise) - feat. Nancy Blake, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
11. Look Again to The Wind - feat. Bill Miller