Pickin’ Time

Every song has a story. Every recording tells another chapter in the life of the “Man in Black.”

With *Pickin’ Time*, Rolf W. Rödel presents the most comprehensive sessionography ever published about Johnny Cash. For more than eighteen years, he has combed through archives, analyzed primary sources, and interviewed contemporary witnesses to reconstruct the complete recording history of one of the greatest icons of American music—from the first acetate recording made by a homesick U.S. soldier in Munich in 1954 to the final recordings at Cash Cabin Studio in August 2003.

Some 1,400 studio sessions and more than 120 live, radio, and television performances are documented here in a level of detail that is unparalleled. Musicians, producers, master numbers, individual takes, unreleased recordings, and previously unknown connections make *Pickin’ Time* far more than just a discography: The book reconstructs the history behind the creation of Johnny Cash’s entire musical body of work.

In the process, Rödel guides readers through all the creative phases of the “Man in Black”—from the unmistakable “boom-chicka-boom” of the Sun Records years, through the legendary prison concerts at Folsom and San Quentin, the Nashville sessions with Bob Dylan, and the Columbia and Mercury eras, all the way to the acclaimed American Recordings that Rick Rubin produced with Cash. Drawing on sources from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the American Federation of Musicians, and numerous other archival collections, this work corrects discographic errors that have persisted for decades and fills gaps left by previous publications.

Whether as an indispensable reference work for collectors and musicologists or as a fascinating journey through the unique career of an American music legend— *Pickin’ Time* sets a new standard for Johnny Cash scholarship and belongs in every library where his music lives on.

reading sample

The book will be released on September 30 and is available for pre-order now!