American V: A Hundred Highways is a heart-breaking look at Johnny Cash's final days on this mortal coil. The reality that this is a posthumous offering is painfully present in his trembling baritone voice and the spiritual reverence swelling in songs "Help Me" and "God's Gonna Cut You Down."

The epic sadness in his rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" is absolutely soul-crushing. Guitarists Matt Sweeney (Bonnie Prince Billy), Smokey Hormel and others key off the mortal burdens echoing in Cash's words to tear-jerking affect. "Like the 309" is the final song Cash wrote before dying. Love, God and death are touched on with a calming sense of humor propelled by a railroad beat. A Hundred Highways is a powerful send-off for the man in black that won't leave a dry eye within earshot. 5 stars.