Johnny Cash
Previously unheard Johnny Cash music from the early ’80s will be released March 25, 2014 by his estate, the Nashville Associated Press announced today. (See the full report on ABC News) “Out Among the Stars” was an album recorded by Cash and Billy Sherrill for Columbia Records but never released. Cash was later dropped from the label and the tapes were archived by Johnny and June-Carter Cash.
Their son, John Carter Cash, discovered the unreleased recordings just last year–nearly a decade after his father’s death at age 71. Cash the younger has worked with co-producer Steve Berkowitz to polish the album for release with help from other recording artists, including Americana royalty Marty Stuart, Jerry Douglas and Buddy Miller. The original live-take recordings also feature two duets with June Carter Cash and one with Waylon Jennings.
![By Zoran Veselinovic [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Jackson_in_1988.jpg)
Michael Jackson
Freddy Mercury
The three tracks recorded at Jackson’s home studio in 1983 were intended as part of a larger project which never got off the ground, according to July 2013 reports by the Times of London.
Besides evoking excitement and anticipation for some “new-old” music, guaranteed to be at least interesting and likely good, these posthumous releases remind us how comprehensive a matter estate planning can be. While most wills and estate plans focus on the distribution of financial assets and real property, people with creative pursuits (whether your name is Cash or not) may want to consider the fate of their intellectual property after they die.
Thanks to these forthcoming releases of long-lost music by some of the more iconic performers and musical pioneers of the past century, we will all soon be beneficiaries of a tremendous inheritance—a cultural one, that is.
Photo Credits:
Johnny Cash: By Joel Baldwin (LOOK Magazine, April 29, 1969. p.72) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Michael Jackson: By Zoran Veselinovic [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Freddie Mercury: By FreddieMercurySinging21978.jpg: Carl Lender derivative work: Lošmi (FreddieMercurySinging21978.jpg) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
