Hillcoat Helms for Cash

John Hillcoat, the director behind movies The Road and Lawless, has released a poignant new promo for the timeless Johnny Cash track, She Used to Love Me a Lot, ahead of the legendary artist’s ‘lost’ album launch later this month.

Piecing together new and archive footage from the singer’s troubled life and supporting the song’s story of heartache and hope with an all American theme, the video forms a frank visual portrait from the open road and lays a foundation for the forthcoming album, which was only recently discovered by Cash’s son, John Carter Cash.

Out Among the Stars – set for release on Tuesday 25 March – was recorded back in the early 80’s during a troubling time in the singer’s life, fighting infidelity, drug addiction and recognition as an artist. The ‘lost’ record was shelved by Columbia Records which meant the 12-track album never saw the light of day… until now.

Produced through production companyStink, the music video reveals Hillcoat’s use of unusual focus, natural light and cropping that refreshingly deviates from accepted visual truisms.

Shot is Nashville, Hillcoat’s “She Used to Love Me a Lot” plays as a majestic tour of the region. As Cash’s song wallows in lost love we see it all: glimpses of the sordid, the neglected and the forlorn – images of people, of roadside landscapes, of urban cauldrons, of the semi-living on Skid Row and in State penitentiaries in a very real slice of the life and times.

A 7-inch vinyl release of the track is out this week (its B-side featuring a remix of the song by Elvis Costello) to promote the release of the late singer’s posthumous album, which will include duets with Waylon Jennings and his late wife June Carter Cash.