American Remains

"American Remains"
1990 single cover, b/w 'Texas'
Single by The Highwaymen
from the album Highwayman 2
A-side"Silver Stallion", "Texas"
Released1990 (1990)
GenreCountry
Length4:06
LabelColumbia 38-73233, 38-73572
Songwriter(s)R. Rutherford
Producer(s)Chips Moman
Music video
"American Remains" on YouTube

"American Remains" is a song written by Rivers Rutherford and originally recorded by the Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson)[1] for their 1990 album Highwaymen 2. The song follows the stories of 4 historically fictional men (a shotgun rider for the fictional "San Jacinto Line", a card shark, a Midwest farmer, and a Cherokee American Indian) in a similar vein to their cover of "Highwayman".[2] Unlike in Highwayman, however, none of the characters are implied dead; their legacies are instead emphasized.

The song was chosen as the fifth track of the album[3] and as a flip side to the lead single from it ("Silver Stallion" / "American Remains", Columbia 38-73233).[4] In October of the same year, it was again released as a single, this time coupled with "Texas".[5]

  1. ^ Dunkerley, Beville (July 7, 2014). "Songwriter Spotlight: Rivers Rutherford". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ The Highwaymen (September 22, 2014). "American Remains". YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  3. ^ "Highwayman 2". Johnny Cash official site. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Silver Stallion / American Remains was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference lescharts.com - Waylon Jennings / Willie Nelson / Johnny Cash / Kris Kristofferson - American Remains was invoked but never defined (see the help page).