Johnny Cash

In 1956, my hero, Johnny Cash, "The Other Man In Black," recorded a song on Sun Records for Sam Phillips called "I Walk The Line" and started a 46 year love affair between myself and the gravel voiced singer.

His distinctive voice stirred something in me and to this day makes me cry when I listen to his music. I'm not kidding about that. In 1995, while living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, my wife as a special present, bought two tickets to a Cash concert, a rare visit to Colorado, and one of his last tours. The seats were front row and center, a fantastic view of the man that I had put on a pedestal years ago, but I didn't see much of the show. Cash must have thought I was just some nut, sitting there with tears visibly streaming down my face the entire program. Still I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Just to listen to his songs today makes me tear up.

My hero, Johnny Cash, the "Man in Black," has walked the line between rock and country since his early days as a rockabilly singer. His songs characteristic marching bass lines have influenced Waylon Jennings, among others, while his deep, quavery baritone growl has become a trademark. A preeminent songwriter, Cash has been courted over the years by rock's elite, beginning with Dylan in the 1960s. In 1994 Cash returned to the spotlight, boasted by the support of a whole new generation of fans, with the release of the stark (just vocals and acoustic guitar) American Recordings.

The son of Southern Baptist sharecroppers, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs at age 12. During high school, he performed frequently on radio station KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. Cash moved to Detroit in his late teens and worked there until he joined the Air Force as a radio operator in Germany. He left the Air Force and married Vivian Liberto in 1954; the couple settled in Memphis, where Cash worked as an appliance salesman and attended radio announcersÆ school.

With the Tennessee Two -- guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant -- he began recording for Sam PhillipsÆ Sun Records in 1955. The trio recorded "Cry, Cry, Cry" (#14 C&W, 1955), and followed it with "Folsom Prison Blues" (#5 C&W, 1956). Later in 1956 came CashÆs most enduring hit, the million-seller "I Walk the Line" (#17,1956).

Cash moved near Ventura, California, in 1958, signed with Columbia, and began a nine-year period of alcohol and drug abuse. He released a number of successful country and pop hits, among them "Ring of Fire" (#1 pop, #1 C&W, 1963), written by June Carter of the Carter Family and Merle Kilgare. By then, he had left his family and moved to New YorkÆs Greenwich Village. Late in 1965, Cash was arrested by Customs officials for trying to smuggle amphetamines in his guitar case across the Mexican border. He got a suspended sentence and was fined. After a serious auto accident and a near fatal overdose, his wife divorced him. By then Cash had moved to Nashville, where he became friends with Waylon Jennings. Together they spent what both have described as a drug-crazed year and a half.

But in Nashville, Cash began a liaison with June Carter, who helped him get rid of his drug habit by 1967 and reconverted him to fundamentalist Christianity. By the time Cash and Carter married in early 1968, they had begun working together regularly. They had hit duets with "Jackson" (#2 C&W, 1967), "Long-Legged Guitar PickinÆ Man" (#6 C&W, 1967), and versions of Bob DylanÆs "It AinÆt Me, Babe" (#58 pop, #4 C&W, 1964) and Tim HardinÆs "If I Were a Carpenter" (#36 pap, #2 C&W, 1970).

CashÆs 1968 live album, At Folsom Prison (#13), became a million-seller in 1968. Bob Dylan invited him to sing a duet ("Girl from the North Country") and write liner notes for Nashville Skyline, and Dylan appeared in the first segment of ABC-TVÆs The Johnny Cash Show in June 1969. The highly rated series, which lasted two years, developed a reputation as an eclectic showcase of contemporary American music, with guests ranging from Louis Armstrong to Carl Perkins to Bob Dylan. Cash had a 1969 hit with Shel SilversteinÆs "A Boy Named Sue" (#2), a track from Johnny Cash at San Quentin; his bestselling album, the live LP was #1 for four weeks.

In 1970 Cash performed at the Nixon White House. He and June Carter traveled to Israel in 1971 to make a documentary, Gospel Road. Cash continued to tour and make hits through the Seventies, including "A Thing Called Love" (#2 C&W, 1972) and "One Piece at a Time" (#1 C&W, 1976). He also became active in benefit work, particularly on behalf of prisoners, Native American rights, and evangelist Billy GrahamÆs organization.

In 1982 Cash regrouped with Sun Records label mates Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis to record The Survivors. Three years later Cash hooked up with three other campadres -- Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson -- to form the Highwaymen, releasing Highwayman in 1985. The Highwaymen performed together sporadically throughout the late Eighties and Nineties, recording Highwayman 2 in 1990. They released The Road Goes On Forever, produced by Don Was, in 1995.

CashÆs long relationship with Columbia Records ended in the mid-Eighties, and in 1986 he began a somewhat desultory liaison with NashvilleÆs branch of Mercury Records. By the late Eighties, his long streak of country hits had ended, and Cash complained to an interviewer that heÆd been "purged" from Nashville, replaced by contemporary "hat acts." He continued to perform constantly, however, usually with a package tour that included his wife and her sisters Helen and Anita Carter, as well as Johnny and JuneÆs san, John Carter Cash (other Cash and Carter siblings would sometimes show up too). Throughout these years, Cash turned to acting, in a slew of Western-themed movies and TV shows. He also suffered from health problems, and underwent heart surgery and drug treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

Already a member of the Nashville SongwriterÆs Hall of Fame (Cash has more than 400 songs to his credit) and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Also that year came the release of the critically acclaimed boxed set, The Essential Johnny Cash. In 1993, he began his return to the forefront with a guest vocal turn an U2Æs Zooropa; he sang lead vocals on the darkly haunting track "The Wanderer." The following year, Cash was toasted by alt-rock audiences with the release of American Recordings, on the label by the same name, known for its rap and rock artists. Label chief Rick RubinÆs production emphasized CashÆs brooding, deep vocals, backed by his own simple, but rhythmic acoustic guitar. Featuring, among CashÆs own compositions, covers of such artists as Nick Lowe, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits, the albumÆs songs veered from CashÆs "Redemption" to satanic-rocker Glenn DanzigÆs "Thirteen." Appearing solo or backed by guitar, bass, and drums, Cash performed in several intimate venues crawling with such hipsters as actor Johnny Depp and his gal-pal model Kate Moss, who starred in the video for the albumÆs "DeliaÆs Gone," frequently shown on MTV. Though the album only reached #110 on the pop charts (#29 C&W), it received airplay an alternative-rock and college radio stations, garnering critical raves and the 1994 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Born February 26, 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas

1957 -- With His Hot and Blue Guitar (Sun)

1958 -- Songs That Made Him Famous

1959 -- Fabulous Johnny Cash (Columbia)

1960 -- Ride This Train

1962 -- Sound of Johnny Cash

1963 -- Ring of Fire

1964 -- Keep on the Sunny Side; I Walk the Line

1965 -- Orange Blossom Special

1968 -- The Holy Land; At Folsom Prison

1969 -- Jackson; At San Quentin

1970 -- Johnny Cash Show

1971 -- A Man in Black

1973 -- Gospel Road; Sunday Morning Coming Down; America

1974 -- Five Feet High and Rising; Ragged Old Flag

1975 -- Look at Them Beans

1977 -- Last Gunfighter Ballad

1980 -- Rockabilly Blues

1982 -- The Survivors (with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins); The Adventures of Johnny Cash

1985 -- Rainbow

1986 -- Believe in Him (Word)

1987 -- Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town (Mercury); The Vintage Years (1955 -- 1963) (Rhino)

1988 -- Water from the Wells of Home (Mercury)

1990 -- The Sun Years (Rhino)

1991 -- The Mystery of Life (Mercury)

1992 -- The Essential Johnny Cash (1955 -- 1983) (Columbia Legacy)

1994 -- American Recordings (American)



With Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings:

1985 -- Highwayman (Columbia); Desperadoes Waiting for a Train

1987 -- They Killed Him (Mercury)

1990 -- Highwayman 2

1995 -- The Road Goes On Forever (Liberty)