On the "Johnny Cash: Forever Words" tribute album, who did "Spirit Rider"?

On Johnny Cash: Forever Words, Jamey Johnson performs “Spirit Rider.”

The track appears on the 2018 collaborative album Forever Words, which transforms previously unpublished Johnny Cash poems, lyrics, and letters into songs. Rather than featuring recordings of Cash singing new material, the project gives contemporary artists the task of supplying music and performances for his written work.

Johnson’s country style makes “Spirit Rider” a natural fit within the project’s wide-ranging lineup. Other contributors include Chris Cornell, Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss, Rosanne Cash, John Mellencamp, Jewel, Elvis Costello, and Kris Kristofferson with Willie Nelson. The album was produced by John Carter Cash and Steve Berkowitz and recorded primarily at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

The album grew out of Forever Words: The Unknown Poems, a 2016 book of Cash’s writings edited by poet Paul Muldoon. “Spirit Rider” is sometimes confused with a traditional Johnny Cash recording, but the song is a posthumous musical setting performed by Johnson.