My parents kept everything and through the years they packed away their recordings and various things into a storage vault. After they passed away, it became necessary that we go through these things. This record, Out Among the Stars, was one of the treasures that we discovered after they passed. What a blessing to find this music. Dad recorded this record with Billy Sherrill, the veteran producer, back in 1984 and 81, mostly in 84. At that point in my life, my dad, well he’d been through some struggles in the early 80s. He had fallen back into drug addiction and in late 83, he went through recovery. So, we catch Dad here at a point in his life, when he was true, when he was aware, when his voice was perfect – when he was headed in a spiritual direction that was positive and meaningful for him. This music resonates in so many ways to my spirit. It’s not just about the perfect voice; it’s a memory to me of who my dad was at the time. And what a blessing to come face to face with that and remember that now and I feel like I’m with him again when I hear these recordings.

1. Out Among The Stars

The title track is a powerful song. Sad, but meaningful. Of course, the title could mean so much more. But the song itself deals with a sadness, it deals with a loss and it’s something that we can relate to in our modern society itself.



2. Baby Ride Easy

Baby Ride Easy, I remember my parents singing for years on the stage in the early 1980s. They loved this song. To me, it is as powerful as Jackson. What a beautiful blessing to have this music and to sit there and listen to my parents’ energy and spirit as if they were in the very room.



She Used To Love Me a Lot, to me, touches deeply in resonance within my spirit. I hear my father’s voice, his tone, his strength. I hear his spirit rising as he sings this song. One vocal take is all that there was for this song. He didn’t need to sing it again.



After All is not a typical song for Johnny Cash. It’s not something he would normally sing. The vocal range is extensive. The spirit of the music is something like from another genre, something that he doesn’t go to. This is a unique recording.



I remember being in the studio the day that my dad recorded I’m Movin’ On with Waylon Jennings. Waylon was a regular around town – he would stop by any little studio and say hello to his friends. He just walked in one day, and they said: “Let’s record I’m Movin’ On.” What a great energy, what a great spirit. All live, this track, it resonates within my spirit as something true, as something powerful, as two friends having fun together.



6. If I Told You Who It Was

When I first heard If I Told You Who It Was, I laughed out loud. What fun, what energy, what spirit. My dad was dear friends with many people in the music business and what a blessing to have a guest appearance in this by the great Minnie Pearl.



7. Call Your Mother

Call Your Mother, a song that my father wrote himself, is really from his heart. The first thing that my dad ever taught me when I was young that I remember was to honour your mother and your father. And he meant it, he really did, and he lived it also. He stayed close to his parents throughout their lives. He loved his mother and he really meant it. It’s time for us to call our mother.

8. I Drove Her Out of My Mind

If you want to laugh out loud and know more about my dad’s sense of humour, listen to I Drove Her Out of My Mind. What a fun song. You know, I really really can’t think of another song in which the person that’s telling the story laughs about committing suicide and killing the girl that he loves. It’s really unique, it’s like nothing my dad has ever recorded.



9. Tennessee

My father was a true patriot, and Tennessee exhibits this. He really did love the state he lived in. Tennessee meant a lot to my dad and through his years here he stayed true. Lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee, from 1967 to the end of his life.



10. Rock and Roll Shoes

Rock and Roll Shoes brings back to me an energy that my dad had in the early 1980s that is true and strong. It makes me remember my father laughing and, of course, it reminds me of the years he spent in the early part of his career; the great creativity, the spirit of love and music that he had and it stayed with him through it all. I love Rock and Roll Shoes. What a fun song.



11. Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time

Don’t You Think It’s Come Our Time to me is like something from another age. The energy and spirit that my parents had within this recording is powerful to me it sticks with me, it stays with me. You know, their love had come its time, it truly had.



12. I Came to Believe

My father did go through struggles in the early 1980s. In late 1983, he went through drug rehab at the Betty Ford Center. While he was there he wrote I Came to Believe. To him it was him giving his whole life and spirit over to God. This song is very personal and very true. Although he recorded it later in his life with, Rick Rubin, this original recording of the song is the first time that he ever recorded it. What a blessing to have this and to hear his voice strong and true.

• Out Among the Stars is released on Sony/Columbia on 31 March. You can preorder from Amazon here and from iTunes here.