I know nothing about JC (Johnny Cash, not Julie Criner) as you know. But I like your use of the term “over correction”–I think that is something many of us do when crafting arguments of various kinds–we overstate our case. If we truly listen respectfully to how others hear our overstated cases, I think we often find greater clarity about the subject at hand. Most people though want to engage in intellectual combat rather than an intellectual intimacy that allows a richer perspective to emerge through conversation.

That said, you are obviously a lot smarter than Greenman.

I don’t know Cash like you or Greenman or no doubt most of the regulars to this blog. I know Cash, primarily, as a towering figure in my childhood, not unlike John Wayne with a guitar, except…funkier and open–that was clear even then. In that way, even the icon was a call to hear the possibility.

I heard that Fresh Air compilation a couple of weeks ago on which Rubin and Cash talked about the American recordings. Cash was so game and having so much fun with that interview, and when he said, “It feels like 1955 all over again,” I believed him. And that speaks to your last paragraph. I feel thankful to Rubin for getting this to happen, but I also feel troubled by the notion of blaming Rubin or giving Rubin too much credit. Cash certainly didn’t seem feeble at the end, and this certainly seems like the Johnny Cash he wanted to present. It may not be everything longtime fans want it to be, but what I’ve heard is good work. This may just be one Johnny Cash, but that’s a pretty formidable figure and, to my ears, hardly monolithic.