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Johnny Cash, "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

It's an odd collection: Bono, Iggy Pop, Jay-Z, Kris Kristofferson, Justin Timberlake, Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, Lisa Marie Presley, Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers and two dozen other stars. They all gathered to pay tribute to Johnny Cash in a new video for The Man in Black's "God's Gonna Cut You Down," from his No. 1 album "American V: A Hundred Highways" (American/Lost Highway).

The clip, directed by Tony Kaye, is dramatically shot in black and white, with each of the stars dressed in black and offering a salute to Cash, who died in 2003 of respiratory failure. And it is one of only a handful of videos ever to debut on MTV, VH1 and CMT on the same day.

The idea for the video came from Kaye; Rick Rubin, who produced Cash's recent work; Timberlake, who worked with Rubin on his recent album, and Mark Romanek, who directed Cash's award-winning "Hurt" video. Like "Hurt," the buzz generated by the "God's Gonna Cut You Down" video has introduced Cash to new audiences through its striking visuals and emotional appearances from numerous stars. However, unlike the almost universally hailed "Hurt," the new clip has generated a bit of backlash against those who appear in the video but had no previous connection to Cash or his music.

In either case, "God's Gonna Cut You Down" should give Cash's album some much-deserved attention, which will likely grow when the video goes on sale through iTunes on Tuesday.