Various Artists - All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash

Now, I think we can all agree that tribute albums are hit-or-miss affairs, at best; often, the albums are terrible, and offer no compelling evidence to justify their existences. How many times have you listened to a tribute album to an artist you like and not come away thinking “I’d have rather had this as a ‘Greatest Hits’ package?” I bet it’s a handful. We’re not even going to talk about genre/era “tributes,” since more often than not those are just “hip” bands making ironic covers that they think are HI-LARIOUS. (Notable example: the late’90s Metaliska album. That shit was so good)

And it’s with that in mind that one enters into this, Anchorless Records’ (based out of Allston, MA!) tribute to Johnny Cash. They’ve assembled a punk-centric collection of artists like the Bouncing Souls, the Gaslight Anthem, Chuck Ragan (of Hot Water Music), MxPx, the Loved Ones, and others, along with local favorites gone national, the Dresden Dolls. So the talent is strong, not a bunch of rookie bands looking to make a name for themselves with an ironic cover of a classic. Remember how well that worked out for Alien Ant Farm?

The songs here are all quality, of course; Johnny Cash had a great catalog of songs, and this is a fine sampling of the man’s material. And the interpretations do a good job of mixing styles. Some of them play the songs truer to the originals than others; while Chuck Ragan’s largely-acoustic take on “Wreck of the Old ’97″ is a straight version, MxPx do a great pop-punk version of “Hey Porter.” And the Gaslight Anthem’s sound is well-suited to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The Dresden Dolls’ “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” is a definite highlight, their inherent theatricality (almost entirely due to Amanda’s voice) along with some wonderful instrumentation and backing vocals, makes the song their own.

Not all of the songs here work as well or are as memorable as those mentioned above, but all in all, the covers here are solid, and are very enjoyable. It’s clear that the artists involved aren’t playing the songs with a sly wink and a smirk on their faces, but actually respect and enjoy the original works. This album is a worthwhile listen for fans of Johnny Cash, or any of the bands involved.