From Sea To Shining Sea

Released in 1968, From Sea to Shining Sea is of a piece with the Americana-themed albums Johnny Cash had made earlier that decade. This time, he sets out to capture a panoramic view of the U.S.A. by highlighting its people and places in song. Cash’s self-written tunes take a populist stance that finds joy and dignity in honest work while lamenting the tough hands dealt to the downtrodden. Kicking things off with a spoken-word piece based on “America the Beautiful,” he launches into a celebration of Tennessee’s frontier days (“The Whirl and the Suck”), recounts the trials of a coal-country family (“Call Daddy from the Mine”), and offers a field worker’s tale from the Deep South (“The Frozen Four-Hundred-Pound Fair-to-Middlin’ Cotton Picker”). Folksy character sketches like “Cisco Clifton’s Fillin’ Station” and hearty romps like “Shrimpin’ Sailin’” are juxtaposed with more reflective tunes like “The Walls of a Prison” and “The Masterpiece.” Of special note is “The Flint Arrowhead,” a brooding meditation on Native American history that speaks to Cash’s deep sense of social justice.