Released this month in 1964, 'Bitter Tears: Johnny Cash Sings Ballads of the American Indian' is a poignant tribute to the Native American experience, and a timeless album that still echoes today 🌾 | Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash stood with Indigenous people when it cost him his career and the record proves it. In 1964, Cash released Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, a protest album confronting genocide, broken treaties, land theft, and erasure of Black-Indigenous people. This wasn’t metaphor. Songs like “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” and “Custer” directly condemned U.S. military violence and treaty violations. Radio stations blacklisted the album for being “too political,” and Cash responded with a pu

Johnny and June Carter Cash performed "Jackson" at San Quentin State Prison, recorded February 24, 1969 - part of the legendary concert that became a triple platinum album. | Johnny Cash