The Gravel Road to Nashville

"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks"
- Tennessee Williams

Why is this blog entitled, "Francis in Cash Country"? Allow me to share a little of the back story here. A few months ago, I met a financial backer. He is based in Philadelphia...he is a fan....and now, more importantly, a friend. He offered to cover the costs of my next record, top to bottom. And he has followed through! I have heard these rare stories of this kind of thing happening for artists. Damien Rice comes to mind. But, one could only pipedream of such a 'deux ex machina' experience happening in his own world. His generosity and belief is overwhelming, and he has single-handedly opened up a world of opportunity for me and my music, that a few months ago would not have been possible. My hat is off to him!


This enabled me to begin a search for the right producer and studio for this next record. After trying the waters in a few scenarios, the best of possible worlds occurred to me: Make the record in Nashville with John Carter Cash.


It is my honor and pleasure to announce that I am headed to Hendersonville, Tennessee (20 miles outside of Nashville) 10 days from now, to record an album with John Carter Cash. He is a singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the grandchild of Maybelle Carter, matriarch of the Carter Family and the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. He preserves the family legacy and is caretaker to the heritage of his musical ancestors.


John Carter's greatest passion is working as a music producer. Having began this walk with his mother June Carter Cash on her CD, Press On, which won a Grammy in 1999, he went on to work under Rick Rubin as Associate Producer on his father Johnny Cash's Grammy winning records American III: Solitary Man and American IV: The Man Comes Around, the latter receiving three CMA awards.


He also produced his mother's record Wildwood Flower, which won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk album in 2003. His 2004 production Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family, received three Grammy nominations. John Carter is Co-Producer on the Marty Stuart CD, Badlands. "The Voice of the Spirit, the Gospel of the South" released in April of 2006 has received critical regard and acclaim. He produced the Peasall Sisters CD, Home to You. John Carter has produced material for George Jones, Mavis Staples, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Earl and Randy Scruggs, Rosanne Cash, John Cowan, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Tony Rice, Billy Jo Shaver, and John Prine.


John Carter Cash owns and operates the Cash Cabin Studio near Nashville, Tennessee. You can watch the video I posted on this blog's homepage, below. It is an interview with John Carter in the Cash Cabin. Dubbed Cedar Hill Refuge, the cabin was built by Johnny Cash as a place of sanctuary and songwriting for him and June. While working on the American Recordings with Rick Rubin, Johnny and John Carter had recording equipment installed. The Cabin is situated on 40 acres of forest and fields in a part of Tennessee that could make Heaven jealous. John Carter raises deer on the land, and has a large pond stocked with bass and catfish. I plan on bringing my fishing pole!


The purpose of this blog is to A: document the making of this record (currently untitled) and B: to have an open-book diary of sorts for all of you to view. I'm gonna keep it as real and painfully honest as possible. This will be an adventure I want to share with you. We will pilgrimage South, through Appalachia to Music City and its outskirts. Places brimming with legends. Origins of people who loom larger than life across the landscape of, not just American music, but America itself. Salt of the Earth people of mythic proportions. People of humble beginnings and humble ends. People with human pain and suffering and poverty, who spin all those tears and straw into gold. I'm not speaking only about the Carter family here, or Johnny Cash. Because we will also sojourn into the Southland of the unconscious. Our American narrative.


I'm invoking the vespers of our ancestors, and their kin. Miners and mountaineers, slave masters and slaves, tobacco farmers and traqueros, Medicine men and snake handlers, big tent revivalists, and outlaws, Cherokee elders and Civil War infantry soldiers. Brothels and Baptisms, lynchings and hootenannies, plantations and honky-tonks. Assembly lines and bread lines. A place of firm handshakes and fever dreams. Everyday folks with thunder in their blood. Blue collar laborers and blue blood politicians. Love and hate, sin and salvation. Snake oil and Holy Water. I have a hunch that the truth, as they say, is even stranger (and, in this case) more achingly beautiful than fiction. Heaven, hell, and the Mason-Dixon line...So keep your ear to the ground...I'm headed to Cash Country! --- Thanks for being here...
Peace, John Francis