Johnny Cash February 26, 1932-September 12, 2003

It’s hard to say just how much influence the Man In Black had on music. Notice that I didn’t say “country music.” He was not just country. He was country, rock, folk and rockabilly all in one. He was inducted into the Country, Rock and Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. People as diverse as Bob Dylan, U2, Kelly Willis and Glenn Danzig have cited him as an influence. Personally, I came to Johnny Cash late. Just in the last few years I have begun to realize the span of his career and how undeniably cool he was. I have never liked country music, but I love Johnny Cash.

He started his life in poverty on February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. Because of the Depression his family was forced to live in a shack.

When JR (that was his real name) was 12 his older brother, Jack, died after a sawing accident. This sent him looking for God. He also found country music and would sit in front of the radio soaking up as much as he could.

In 1950, he joined the Air Force and was sent to Germany where he wrote some of his first songs. He returned in 1954 and married Vivian Liberto who he had met during basic training in Texas.

The couple moved to Memphis where he thought it would be easier to start his music career. In the meantime he was a salesman and took classes for radio announcing.

In late 1954 Cash’s band, The Tennessee Three, auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. They cut a few singles including Sun’s first country hit, “Cry, Cry, Cry” in 1955.

Johnny’s first solo hit was “Folsom Prison Blues,” but the b-side, “So Doggone Lonesome” was also a hit. The single sold over a million copies and put Johnny on the map as a singer and a songwriter.

In 1956 he recorded what would become his signature hit, “I Walk The Line.” It sold over two million copies. But no matter how well his singles and albums were selling, Sun Records didn’t want him recording gospel music, so he parted ways with Phillips and went to Columbia.

In the early 60s Johnny became addicted to amphetamines, a problem that resurfaced many times throughout his life. His wife left him when he was at his lowest (they had four daughters together including recording artist Rosanne Cash), but he would soon find another love.

June Carter was a member of The Carter Family and the two had met on tour. She co-wrote “Ring Of Fire” with him about their forbidden love for each other. (They were both married to other people when they met.) In 1967 they were both divorced and had recorded a single together, “Jackson.” June saved his life by getting him to go into rehab to kick his habit and helped him restore his Christian faith. In 1968 they were married and began one of the great love affairs in music history.

Throughout the 60s Johnny would take a stand on political issues that most country artists shied away from. He recorded the single, “The Ballad Of Ira Hayes” about the American Indian who helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima. The war hero was then discriminated against when he got back to his homeland. He also recorded “The Man In Black” which explained why he always wore black.

“Well we’re doin’ mighty fine I do suppose

In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes

But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back

Up front there oughta be a man in black”

His 1969 duet with Bob Dylan, “The Girl From The North Country,” gave him some credit with the hipsters of the new generation. He also had a hit on his own with Shel Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue.”

The late 60s also saw him release two of his most popular albums, the live sets At Folsom Prison (1968) and At San Quentin (1969). He was the first performer to do shows at prisons. He fought for the rights of prisoners and Native Americans throughout the next decade.

From 1969-1971 Cash had a tv show that hosted people like Bob Dylan, The Carter Family and Louis Armstrong. He also starred in many movies through the rest of his career.

The 70s and 80s saw him decline a bit in popularity, but he was always respected and his shows still sold out. The 80s saw him record albums with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1982 (The Survivors) and The Highwaymen in 1985 (Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson). The albums only sold moderately well and Columbia ended their relationship with Johnny.

When none of his Mercury albums took off he tried again with The Highwaymen in 1992. It was a moderate success, but he and Mercury split soon after that. The next year U2 featured him on their song “The Wanderer” from their Zooropa album. The song proved to be one of the best songs on the album.

Fortunately, rock producer Rick Rubin saw a kindred spirit in Johnny and signed him to his American Records label. The two worked on four albums, each of which featured Cash singing contemporary artists’ songs. The first set in 1994, American Recordings, featured songs by Danzig, Tom Waits and Nick Lowe. Johnny’s new popularity began again.

The next three American albums (1996’s Unchained, 2000’s Solitary Man and 2002’s The Man Comes Around) became bigger and bigger hits and featured more and more diverse material. It didn’t always work (his version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on the 2002 album is a lowlight), but when it did it was magic. (“I Won’t Back Down” and “Solitary Man” from the third set were great as is a painfully introspective version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” from the fourth set.)

A string of serious illnesses stopped him from recording in 1997, but he bounced back. His stays in the hospital were usually short after that, but they were frequent. He had become very susceptible to pneumonia and suffered from it often. It kept him from going to the MTV Video Awards when his video for “Hurt” was up for six awards. (It won for Best Cinematography.)

If you haven’t seen this video, seek it out now. It shows Johnny sitting in his museum that has been closed down for a few years. He is going through all of his memories while playing piano and singing the song. As he sings we see shots of him performing as a young man interspersed with the shots of him now. It’s a heartwrenching thing, but it’s beautiful all at the same time.

On May 15th of this year, Johnny’s beloved June passed away after complications from heart surgery. I think everyone knew that Johnny would not be long after. He held on for a little while, going in and out of the hospital, but finally succumbed to his diabetes yesterday morning.

We lost a musical legend yesterday and no one will ever be able to take his place. His deep baritone will always be on record, but no longer will it fill music halls and concert arenas.

Like the characters in his songs Johnny lived a hard life. He felt the pain of drugs and heartache and it informed every line that he sang, whether he wrote the song or not. He felt the pain of the common man that he never left behind.

There’s far too much material for me to link all of it here, but here’s a small sample of what The Man In Black had for us: