No country artist this side of Hank Williams strikes a better balance between secular temptation and spiritual redemption than Johnny Cash. While Hymns (originally released in 1959) is an album-length testament of faith, it features the characteristics of Cash's classic country--the conversational phrasing and plainspoken conviction, the craggy baritone that sounds like it was carved from Mount Rushmore, the stripped-down arrangements, and the steady lope of Luther Perkins's guitar. Many of the highlights are Cash originals, from the propulsive "It Was Jesus" to the stately "Lead Me Father" to the call-and-response of "He'll Be a Friend." A stirring "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" finds Cash putting his signature on the traditional hymnal as well. Throughout, there's a musical spirit of sharing rather than preaching. --Don McLeese