Next weekend when we are all flocking to the stores for Record Store Day Country Legend Mr. John Carter Cash will release an ALL NEW album aptly named “We must Believe In Magic” which ironically was also the name of my favorite Crystal Gayle album.
The 17-track release is a collection of songs recorded over the last ten years and features an astounding host of musical guests, including some of Nashville’s most recorded session players and artists representing Rock, Gospel and Country Music. Tony Rice, Ana Cristina Cash, John Cowan, The Fisk Jubilee Singers, Jerry Douglas, Dave Roe, The Daeger Brothers, Bob Moore, Etta Britt, Charlie McCoy, Tony Harrell, Jamie Hartford, Sam Bush, Jack Clift and the Cedar Hill Refugees, Sarah Peasall McGuffey, Ira Dean, Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Eric Hamilton and many others took part in the project. The album’s imaginative cover features the faces of many of the individuals who contributed to the music and is designed by Roberto Parada.
The project is made up of original material, some co-written with master songwriters, including Bill Miller, Shawn Camp, and Wesley Orbison. A remake of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt,” previously released by Cash’s father is also a highlight on the release. Much of the production is sparse and simple, focusing on the song and the individual instrumentalist. John Carter holds no limit or containment around his creative energy, and the double-album promises to be diverse and presents an unparalleled epic journey.
The title song, written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds, is the essential message of the album. John Carter commented about the track, saying “I remember believing in MAGIC. I recall the wind in itself being alive and with a voice… It smelled awake, purposeful and spoke in a resounding tongue I perfectly understood. All was vast, open, dazzling and wondrous. I believe this to be the truth of the world……the MAGIC is inside us all. And though it may be forgotten, it can be remembered once again… It is only up to us to do one single thing, and do it purely…BELIEVE.”
Released through Reviver Legacy, the full-length album is produced by John Carter Cash and was engineered and mixed by Chuck Turner at Cash Cabin Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where John Carter worked with his parents Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash on much of their latter life recordings.
Growing up among one of Country music’s most recognizable families, there’s no surprise that John Carter Cash would mature to become an accomplished and award-winning record producer. Having been a producer for over 25 years now, he’s garnered six Grammy Awards and seven Grammy nominations, and has production credits that includes Alison Krauss and Union Station, Chris Cornell, Elvis Costello, John Cowan, Rodney Crowell, Sheryl Crow, Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill, Carlene Carter, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Rosanne Cash, John McEuen, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Jamey Johnson, John Popper, Ruston Kelly, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tim O’Brien, John Prine, Earl and Randy Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Josh Turner, Dr. Mavis Staples, The John Randal and Jessi Alexander, Wylie and the Wild West, to many more.
Having written music for decades, John Carter continues to live inside a creative world reaching far beyond just music production. He is a singer-songwriter and author. The grandson of Maybelle Carter and the only son from the marriage of John R. Cash and June Carter Cash, he preserves the family legacy and is a caretaker to the heritage of his musical ancestors.
We Music Believe In Magic – Track Listing:
1. We Must Believe in Magic (Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds)
2. Feel Like Going Home (Charlie Rich)
3. Brave Young Man (John Carter Cash, Bill Miller)
4. Dragon Song (John Carter Cash)
5. Runaway Train (John Carter Cash, Sarah Peasall McGuffey, Janie Lidey, Trey Call)
6. Prayers For St. Regis (John Carter Cash and Shawn Camp)
7. The Dungeon (John Carter Cash)
8. Heaven’s Song (John Carter Cash and Justin Miller)
9. Holy Train (John Carter Cash, Natalie Aulvin, Dave Daeger)
10. Dance With Me (John Carter Cash and Wesley Orbison)
11. Awake Sweet Dreamer (John Carter Cash and Jack Clift)
12. Jayne Hill (John Carter Cash and Jack Clift)
13. Hurt (Trent Reznor)
14. Let the Lower Lights Be Burning (John Carter Cash)
15. Paradise (John Prine)
16. Poor Boy & the Captain’s Daughter (John R Cash and John Carter Cash)
17. Into the Blue (John Carter Cash, George Daeger, and Dave Daeger)
