Legendary music producer Rick Rubin played a pivotal role in revitalizing Johnny Cash’s career. When Rubin first heard Cash perform at a dinner theater, he saw a talented artist who had been overlooked by the music industry. He invited Cash to his house and asked him to play all of his favorite songs, giving Rubin an understanding of who Cash was as a person, not just as a musician.
The duo went on to create seven albums together, with Rubin guiding Cash to pick songs that suited his persona, including “Hurt,” a Nine Inch Nails song that became one of Cash’s most popular hits. Their collaboration extended beyond music, as they even shared daily communion rituals, both in person and over the phone.
This video offers a glimpse into how Rick Rubin’s unconventional approach helped Johnny Cash reclaim his status as a music legend. Their unique partnership and deep connection resulted in some of Cash’s most memorable work, cementing their legacy in the music industry.
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60 Minutes Overtime Johnny Cash yeah what was he like he knew a lot he was also a big reader and history buff he knew a tremendous amount about music and was just an interesting beautiful quiet shy person what was it you thought you could do with Johnny Cash It Started more
From a process perspective of been having success doing the things that I’m doing with these young artists and I thought okay who’s the best grown-up artist I can think of who maybe isn’t doing their best work or hasn’t been doing their best work for a while
And the first person I thought of was Johnny Cash I read at the time he was sort of performing in dinner theaters the first time I got seen was at a dinner theater in in Orange County it just seemed like the world had passed him by and he believed the world had
Passed them by what was the approach how did you work together I asked him to um come to my house and just play me all of his favorite songs from from the course of his life just to get an understanding of who he was it was like a a way to meet
Musically um not based on the music he made but on what spoke to him I mean that’s a beautiful way to meet somebody it was incredible it really connected us and it gave me a sense him and I learned so much cuz I most of the songs he played
Me I’d never heard before Ruben looked around for lyrics that would suit the man in Black he picked a 9in nails song called hurt cash made it his own hurt became one of Johnny Cash’s most popular songs and over the course of a decade they made Seven albums together is it
True you used to go to communion with him we did communion every day he talked about the healing benefits of communion and I said I’ve never done communion would you do communion with me so he presided over communion with me and then I said what let’s do it every day and
Then we did it every day that we were together and then when he left town we kept doing it over the phone and we did this probably I want to say for at least the last six months of his life maybe more and then when he passed I kept doing it
I could hear his voice he was saying the words and I kept doing it um for as long as as long as it was possible
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Video “How Rick Rubin helped revitalize Johnny Cash's career” was uploaded on 01/15/2024 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes