Bailey Zimmerman has stormed Billboard‘s country charts of late with his own songs, including “Rock and a Hard Place” and “Fall in Love,” but on Friday (Feb. 17), he paid tribute to the Man in Black, covering Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”
The release is an Apple Music exclusive, in conjunction with the launch of MLS Season Pass and the new “Man in Black” Nashville Soccer Club kit honoring the life and music of the late Country Music Hall of Fame member.
“The real reason I chose Cash’s ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ is because I’m such a believer, like I know he was,” Zimmerman told Apple Music. “Stoked for everyone to hear this version and maybe see Nashville SC use it next season!”
“God’s Gonna Cut You Down” was included on the 2006 posthumous Cash release American V: A Hundred Highways, the fifth entry in Cash’s American series. His version was inspired by a folk song, “God Almighty’s Gonna Cut You Down,” which was originally recorded by the Golden Gate Quartet in 1946 and released by group The Jubalaires a year later.
Given that Cash’s version of the song and video were released three years after the music legend’s death in 2003, Cash’s video is a black-and-white piece of visual art that includes a string of celebrities such as Sheryl Crow, Whoopi Goldberg, Travis Barker, Bono, Johnny Depp, Flea, Billy Gibbons, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Brian Wilson, Owen Wilson and more.
Listen to Zimmerman’s version on Apple Music, and Cash’s version below:
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