Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian
Studio album by Johnny Cash
Released	October 26, 1964
Recorded	March 5 – June 30, 1964
Genre	Country folk
Length	31:13
Label	Columbia
Producer	Don Law Frank Jones
Johnny Cash chronology
I Walk the Line (1964) Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian (1964) Original Sun Sound of Johnny Cash (1964)
Singles from Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian
"The Ballad of Ira Hayes" Released: June 2, 1964

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link
Rolling Stone	favourable[1]

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian is a 1964 concept album, the twentieth album released by singer Johnny Cash on Columbia Records. It is one of several Americana records by Cash. This one focuses on the history of Native Americans in the United States and their problems. Cash believed that his ancestry included Cherokee, which partly inspired his work on this recording. The songs in this album address the harsh and unfair treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America by Europeans in the United States. Two deal with 20th-century issues affecting the Seneca and Pima peoples. It was considered controversial and was rejected by some radio stations and fans.

In 2014 a tribute album, Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited, was released with contributions by Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Emmylou Harris, Bill Miller, and others. This was also the name of a documentary film about the suppression of Cash's Native American-themed album in the 1960s. This aired on PBS in February and November 2016.