The album featured covers of classic songs, and was dedicated to her father Johnny Cash.

[4] It also includes guest performances by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright.

The album also contained covers of classic country songs made by Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Don Gibson, Ray Price, Lefty Frizzell, Patsy Cline, and other country stars, as well the traditional folk song "Motherless Children" and 1960s folk numbers by Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Three songs had previously been recorded by her father: "Sea of Heartbreak", "The Long Black Veil," which he had recorded and performed numerous times and "Girl from the North Country", a 1963 Bob Dylan song that was re-recorded as a duet between Dylan and Cash in 1969 for Dylan's Nashville Skyline album.

It was also her first entry on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, where it debuted and peaked at #8.