The album that nearly killed Johnny Cash's career—and the Native American protest songs America wasn't ready to hear.
The story behind Johnny Cash's lost Native American-themed concept album and his unique collaboration with folk artist Peter Lafarge. The film also chronicles the reimagining of Cash's highly controversial 1964 record on its 50th anniversary, as recorded at Nashville's historic Sound Emporium Studios. Based on Antonino D'Ambrosio's book "A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears."
Direction
D'Ambrosio treats 50-year-old sessions like sacred archaeological digs.
Production
Sound Emporium becomes a character—history bleeding through the walls.
Writing
Unpacks why radio stations literally smashed this record.
Director
Antonino D'Ambrosio
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cash's Folsom Prison fame actually overshadowed this album, which he considered his most important work—Columbia Records buried it after country radio revolted.
The album's lead single 'The Ballad of Ira Hayes' tells the true story of the Pima soldier from the famous Iwo Jima flag-raising photo who died of alcoholism in a ditch, ignored by the country he served.
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