Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals).
Includes liner notes by Johnny Cash and Sylvie Simmons.
Previously released as the fourth disc in the UNEARTHED box set, MY MOTHER'S HYMN BOOK, like the lauded AMERICAN RECORDINGS album, features only two instruments--Johnny Cash's acoustic guitar and his unmistakable baritone voice. Recorded at Cash's cabin in rural Tennessee, this spare, unadorned set consists of classic country gospel standards handpicked by Cash from the hymnal of the title. The contents run from the heavenly ode "Where We'll Never Grow Old" to the sauntering "I Am a Pilgrim," and the redemptive "I'll Fly Away." Despite the Man in Black's failing health at the time of this recording, he sounds amazingly vital and notably moved on each and every song. Cash writes in the liner notes, "On that album, I nailed it. That was me....I'm so glad that I got that done." The overwhelming sense of completion and closure is especially fitting, since HYMN BOOK is the final set of songs recorded by Cash with the specific intention of an album. As a testament to a remarkable man and his unshakable faith, nothing could be more fitting.