Watch Kacey Musgraves and Ruston Kelly Perform Johnny Cash’s ‘To June This Morning’

Johnny Cash wrote some of country music’s most memorable songs, but what some might not know is that the icon was also a poet, writing collections of unreleased poems and lyrics that are now being celebrated with the new project Johnny Cash: Forever Words.

Assembled by Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, the collection includes contributions from artists including Rosanne Cash, Alison Krauss, and Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, as well as newlywed pair Kacey Musgraves and Ruston Kelly.

Musgraves and Kelly teamed up to put a melody to the Man in Black’s 1970 poem “To June This Morning,” written when June was pregnant with John.

The track is paired with “Forever,” written by Johnny in 2003 shortly after June’s death and months before the singer’s own passing. That poem was given a sparse treatment by Kristofferson and Nelson, providing a contrast to “To June This Morning,” though Johnny’s love for June is clear in both pieces.

Musgraves and Kelly arranged the poem simply, with just their voices and a banjo, and filmed the accompanying video at Johnny and June’s former estate outside Nashville.

“It just felt like sacred ground,” Musgraves told Billboard. “His son was there, all their belongings were there. Rusty played Johnny’s guitar on the recording. I don’t know, it was really special … John was like crying during us recording it and he was like, ‘I think my parents would be so proud of this.’”

Musgraves also shared a video chronicling the making of the track on Twitter, with Kelly explaining in the clip that he had put music to the poem when he was 16.

“It’s just a sweet peek into what probably was at times a really chaotic lifestyle,” Musgraves said of the poem. “It was a moment in time that was just really thankful.”

Photo Credit: YouTube / ForeverWordsVEVO