American has set a July 4th, 2006 for the final release from the late Johnny Cash. In the months leading up to his passing on September 12, 2003, Cash had been recording new material with producer Rick Rubin. The album, titled American V: A Hundred Highways, assembled from those sessions, will be released on the American Recordings label through Lost Highway. It will include the last song Cash ever wrote.

The label had this to say about the material:

The songs […] are as eclectic an assortment as any on the previous albums in the American series: "Help Me," a poignant plea to God, the hauntingly beautiful ballad "If You Could Read My Mind," "God's Gonna Cut You Down," a traditional spiritual, the touching "Love's Been Good To Me," the heartrending "On The Evening Train," and "Further On (Up the Road)" are among the tracks on the new album. Songwriters for the tracks run the gamut from Hank Williams to Rod McKuen to Bruce Springsteen.

The album follows Johnny's last album, American IV: The Man Comes Around released in 2002.