New York, NY — The estate of Johnny Cash and Posterity Records, based in New York City, announced this week that they plan to release over 14 hours of the country rebel legend’s mumblings.
In the mid to late 1960s, at the suggestion of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash started carrying a portable tape recorder to capture his ideas. Sometimes Cash would use it for songwriting, other times he would just let it roll for fun. However often it would run while he was on one of his many amphetamine-fueled binges.
“We wanted to give a full picture of Johnny Cash,” said Posterity Records spokesperson Bethany Millbright. “There are plenty of posthumous record collections with outtakes and studio banter, but how many feature an artist mumbling and grunting over missing donuts or finding the car keys?”
According to a memo released by Posterity, the label plans on releasing 14 albums over the course of the next 3 years, each with differing degrees of incoherent Johnny Cash. The series, called Mumble Volumes 1-14, is due out this summer.
“We are releasing only the best of his mumblings,” continued Ms. Millbright. “Our staff had to sort through over 100 cassette tapes. We repaired many of them due to their deteriorated condition. The first LP, called Mumble Volume 1, has about 45 minutes of Mr. Cash trying to figure out how to use his toaster.”
A boxed CD set of all the recordings is also planned, but no release date has been selected.
