Too bad Rubin didn't pick a real legend, like George Jones

From Rolling Stone:

Rick Rubin is hoping to do for Neil Diamond what he did for Johnny Cash. The producer — who revived the Man in Black’s career in the Nineties with the Grammy-winning American Recordings series — has revealed to Rolling Stone that he is producing Diamond’s next album, the follow-up to 2001′s Three Chord Opera.
The record will mark a slight change in direction for Diamond, moving away from his recent, lavishly arranged crooner material to his stripped-down singer-songwriter style of the late Sixties. “This is more of a songwriter’s album than a singer’s album,” says Rubin