Here’s Johnny

Atrios ventures into the realm of rock criticism (briefly, he promises) to comment on Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around."

Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt" alone is worth the 13 bucks. Not since L.L. Cool J's performance of "Mama Said Knock You Out" on MTV's Unplugged has the quality of a song been so revealed by its acoustic deconstruction.

If you haven't heard Cash's version of this song, do so now. The video is online at MarkRomanek.com.

"I think 'Hurt' is the best anti-drug song I ever heard," said Cash. "It's a song about a man's pain and what we're capable of doing to ourselves and the possibility that we don't have to do that anymore. I could relate to that from the very beginning." He told USA Today, "I would have written something like that in the '60s, if I had been that good."

He was that good. And he kept getting better.

Atrios has some other fine pieces of Cash-news, including news of an upcoming tribute concert in Nashville. It'll be hosted by Tim Robbins, and will feature, among others: John Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow — pretty much a who's who of artists boycotted because of their opposition to George W. Bush and his war in Iraq. Still time to get the Dixie Chicks on board.