DevilDriver have premiered a new in-studio video for their cover of Johnny Cash‘s version of “Ghost Riders In The Sky,“ via Billboard. The track features Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God), as well as Johnny Cash‘s son John Carter Cash and his wife Ana Cristina Cash. DevilDriver‘s new outlaw country covers album “Outlaws ‘Til The End: Vol. 1“ will be released on July 6.
DevilDriver vocalist Dez Fafara said the following:
“It was both an honor and a privilege to work with these three great artists. Watching John Carter Cash and Ana Cristina Cash track vocals at the Cash Cabin was a highlight of my career. Meeting such down-to-earth and incredibly talented people and having them come on board “made” the project for me, personally. Tracking with Randy was another highlight. He’s a brother and watching how he tracked, and vice versa, was a learning process for both of us that we both spoke highly about and enjoyed immensely. All of us on this song gave 110% to make sure it was done right! Enjoy!”
John Carter Cash also commented:
“All my life I have loved the power and eerie quality of the song ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky‘. Since I was nine years old, I have lived and breathed heavy metal music. I am grateful to have had the chance to work with Dez Fafara, Randy Blythe, DevilDriver and others, in the upcoming release of what I believe is the consummate metal version of this musical masterpiece.”
Ana Cristina Cash continued:
“I am so proud to have been a part of ‘Outlaws ‘Til The End: Vol. 1‘ and to have sung on the metal version of ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky‘ with my husband John Carter Cash, Dez Fafara, Randy Blythe and DevilDriver. This whole album pushes boundaries and merges the outlaw country and the metal genres in a masterful way.”
Lamb Of God‘s Randy Blythe also added:
“I am a huge fan of moody songs with narrative lyrics employed to tell a dark story – they really make the listener visualize what the song is about. I can’t think of many tunes where this was done more effectively than Johnny Cash‘s version of ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky‘. Long before heavy metal had been invented, the original Man in Black wasn’t afraid to explore the dark side with his music. Truly great songs never die – they just shape-shift through the years. Singing with Dez, John Carter, and DevilDriver is keeping those undead riders alive in a whole different genre. Crank this up and look to the sky at night…”
Fafara also told Billboard the following about a possible follow-up to the effort:
“When people started to hear about this, man, I got a lot of phone calls, I mean a ton, from some very big band and big guys in big bands who wanted to be part of it. So I said, ‘We’d better slap a Vol. 1 on this.’ I’m not looking forward to trying to tackle this or bite this off again, but it looks like it might come to fruition ’cause of the amount of guests who contacted us. This thing was difficult and I’m glad we’re on the other end of it but, yeah, I’m sure we’ll go do it again at some point.”
