Johnny Cash’s long, legendary career comes to a close with this final collection produced by Rick Rubin and featuring numerous songs that confront the final showdown. Cash’s career spanned many years when his music was either at odds with the times or was produced in ways that diminished his considerable strengths. But Rubin took fewer chances, focusing on “The Man In Black” and his world-worn voice. By stripping Cash’s music down to its essentials, often little more than an acoustic guitar and voice, Rubin helps Cash make songs like the banjo-stomping “Ain’t No Grave”, Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day”, and timeless classics such as ”Satisfied Mind” and “Cool Water” sound like the Final Word. A slight Western sweetening on “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” adds a burst of color and the bittersweet tone of the Hawaiian melody “Aloha Oe” makes for a fond farewell. Could there be a dry eye in the house after this listen?