These past few days, I’ve fallen in love again with an album I’ve had for a couple years. After hearing that my grandfather passed away, I popped in my copy of Johnny Cash’s My Mother’s Hymn Book. Cash has always been the bard for our family. It was fitting then that this album served as my own personal soundtrack in the aftermath of my grandfather’s passing. If you know anything about Cash, you know he was always — even in his darkest periods — a gospel singer at heart. This album has particular significance for me right now. Cash sings some of his mother’s favorite gospel hymns, taken directly from her ragged old hymn book. Some of these songs — particularly I’ll Fly Away and When the Roll is Called Up Yonder — were among my grandfather’s favorites, too. The record is simple: Cash’s guitar is the only accompaniment. But the stripped-down production is an exercise of “less is more”. Recorded in the final months of Cash’s life, the sparse production allows the lyrics of these great hymns to truly shine. I’ve owned this album for a couple of years, but I somehow overlooked how beautiful a recording it really is. It’s beauty and simplicity remind me of my grandfather and it’s provided a balm to my soul in these days. I can see why this was Cash’s favorite album he ever recorded. Even if you’re not a Cash fan, your collection is incomplete without this 5-star record.