It’s been 23 years since The Highwaymen—a country supergroup comprised of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson—last put out an album, but the bond is still there. That mutual love and respect is on display in a new collaboration between three of the band’s members, despite the fact that one of them is now deceased.
Titled “Forever/I Still Miss Someone,” the collaborative track finds Nelson and Kristofferson joining forces with Cash’s words as their guide. The song is set to be featured on the forthcoming compilation Forever Words, a collection of songs inspired by Cash, whose poetry was repurposed as lyrics for the album’s 16 tunes.
Forever Words Preview
“My father, toward the end of his life… was dealing with the loss of my mother, and was very much alone,” Cash’s son, John Carter Cash says in the video. “There was a folder of letters that my father had written for my mother, and within this folder, there were a few poems, many of them very sad. But right in the middle of them was this poem ‘Forever,’ that spoke of life continuing on. Even in the face of my father’s own mortality, he still saw the vision ahead for where his legacy would go.”
“Forever/I Still Miss Someone” combines an instrumental rendition of Cash’s 1958 single “I Still Miss Someone” with lyrics from Cash’s poem. The effort is one of a few offerings that will appear on Forever Words, which will also include recordings by Chris Cornell, Robert Glasper, T Bone Burnett, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, and many more. Forever Words is due out on April 6th.
Forever Words Track List:
[H/T – Rolling Stone]