A previously unheard Chris Cornell track surfaced this week.
Titled “You Never Knew My Mind” and recorded for an upcoming Johnny Cash album by the name of Johnny Cash: Forever Words, it’s one of the last solo recordings the former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer did before his untimely death in May of last year.
In 1996, Johnny Cash recorded a cover of Soundgarden’s hit “Rusty Cage” for his Grammy Award-winning album Unchained. 20 years later, Cornell wrote the next chapter in this unique musical relationship, pairing a newly discovered poem of Cash’s with music.
Cornell said of Cash at the time he recorded the new song:
“I met the man once or twice in my life, and he was so gracious and he was such an influence on me as a musician. And he also covered a song that I wrote. Since that time, I’ve felt like he’s maybe one of the bigger presences in my life, in terms of artists that I’m a fan of.”
Recorded at the historic Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, TN, and marks one of Cornell’s final solo recordings, the song will feature on the new Johnny Cash album comprised of Cash’s unknown poetry, lyrics, and letters, now set to music by an all-star array of contemporary artists.
Along with Cornell, the album features new songs by Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves, Rosanne Cash, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, John Mellencamp, Carlene Carter, Elvis Costello, The Jayhawks and more.
When Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash passed, they left behind what John Carter Cash, their son and Johnny Cash: Forever Words co-producer, describes as a “monstrous amassment” of things, including a treasure trove of undiscovered material that includes Johnny Cash’s handwritten letters, poems and documents, penned across the entirety of his life.
John Carter Cash said of Cornell:
“I met Chris backstage in the early 1990s when my father performed a show in Seattle. Chris told me then that he had been a fan of my father even when most of his friends listened to hard rock. When I was conceiving this album years later, I reached out to him and he was excited and honored to be involved. Chris connected deeply with my father’s words, and his finished version of ‘You Never Knew My Mind’ tied his own life experience to my father’s on an honest level.”
Listen to “You Never Knew My Mind” below:
Johnny Cash: Forever Words arrives April 6th and is available to pre-order now on CD, 2LP and Digital.
