A Tribute to Cash by the punk community makes sense for many reasons. I don’t think anyone would dispute that Jesus-loving aside Johnny was a punk motherfucker. Down for the common man. A penchant for black. And a fuck you attitude. I’ll leave drinking and drugging out as a punk prerequisite because it shouldn’t be and because Cash eventually cleaned up his act and flew straight anyway. From Social Distortion to The Reverend Horton Heat, punk rock Cash covers are nothing new. (Luckily no one here attempted Ring of Fire as it’s pretty hard to top Mike Ness and crew’s already classic-in-it’s-own-right version.) It should also be noted that this album comes on a variety of colors (I ended up with brown) and that all profits are being donated to the Syrentha Savio Endowment for underprivileged women who can’t afford the treatment needed to fight breast cancer. There are a couple low points for sure but overall it’s a valiant effort at paying tribute to a true iconoclast.
The Bouncing Souls start things off with Man In Black and things are off to a good start. Considering they played Folsom Prison Blues as an encore a bunch of times after Cash’s death I was surprised they didn’t do that instead, but their version of Man In Black is good enough that I didn’t care. It’s also probably the best version to be found on this album. Not that things are all downhill from there but they’re average at best. Chuck Ragen of Hot Water Music does a good job with the Wreck Of The Old ’97 and it’s certainly in fitting with his recent solo work. The Loved Ones redeem themselves from their last terrible EP with a cover of Cocaine Blues. Jason Shevchuk of Kid Dynamite sounds at home doing Give My Love To Rose. And The Flatliners, who I’m unfamiliar with, do a great job with Cry Cry Cry. Now the bad. I’m a little confused as to how the dude from MxPx still sounds like a 16 year old. He has to be mid-30s by now. This by the way isn’t a compliment either. The Dresden Dolls sound like a shitty pretentious ripoff of Nico from Velvet Underground more than channeling any Cash vibe. And both versions of Delia’s Gone by Ben Nichols of Lucero (there are two on the vinyl) are terrible. If that is this guy’s real voice I’m sorry, and if it’s an affect to sound more “country” he needs to give it up cause it’s downright obnoxious.
If you’re a fan of Cash or of any of the bands on here it’s worth checking out. At least the money goes to a good place. But considering that the latter part of Cash’s career consisted of him putting his unique signature on other peoples songs to great success, it’s a bit of a let down what others have done with his original material. But those are some tough shoes to fill so what do you expect. My suggestion if you don’t know much about Johnny… check out the movie they made about him starring that guy from Step Brothers and Tim & Eric Awesome show. Ya doofus.
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