Johnny Cash
The Biography
By
Michael Streissguth
The author
of this definitive tome is a long time chronicler of all things country. He
authored books on Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold. But his focus has been on Johnny
Cash. He authored Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece. He
is also the editor of Ring of Fire; The Johnny Cash Reader. This time around
the author digs deep and comes up with gold, 18 chapters over 290 pages. He
also includes a Notes section, an Index section and a Bibliography. No stone is
left unturned.
He begins
his narrative in 1932 but the sentinel event for young Johnny (J.R.) Cash was
the death of his brother Jack In 1944. Jack was repairing tents and was trying
to cut a board on a big Dewalt bale arm saw. Someone had taken the guard off
and put an oversized blade on it and it hit the wood and the blade came right
at him. The blade sliced through Jack’s stomach and abdomen. It was reported
that Jack died slowly. It was a tragic death made more tragic when J.R.’s father
said, “Too bad it wasn’t you instead of Jack.” Perhaps it was this sense of not
belonging that led Cash into the armed services and the use of alcohol and
recreational drugs. According to the author, Cash became a stoned addict for
most of his life. It was in the service that Cash refined his musical skills
and developed his expressive baritone.
Streissguth
captures the yearning in Cash’s early forays music with his good friends Luther
Perkins and Marshall Grant. By 1949 Dewey Phillips was broadcasting at WDIA
rhythm and blues shows. It aired black oriented public affairs programs, black
music and black voices. In the 20’s and 30’s marketed cut rate blues and jazz
records to black buyers. It was Sam Phillips;
a 26 year old white man from Florence Alabama began working for WREC. He
discovered that different classes and races could make music together. SUN
Records was established in 1952, it was
the early seedlings of rock & roll -
white artists such as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash made a big wave, more
of a typhoon of musical greatness, though it is quite evident that the legacy
of BB King, Bobby Bland and Ike Turner
made it all possible. By 1955 Cash & the TennesseeTwo was touring with a
roster of SUN Records artists including Elvis Presley. By 1956 Cash was on his
way with hits like Get Rhythm, I Walk the Line, and Folsom Prison Blues (early
version). Cash datedhis drug use to 1958 though may of his colleagues disputed
this, it was much earlier and it was speed, benzos. It became a lifelong habit
with the most intense years were from 1958 to 1967, though he was never free
from drugs for the rest of his life. In 1958, Cash-composed songs sold more
than six million records.
In 1960 Cash
added a drummer to fill out the sound. He was in high gear, touring and making
regular television appearances on the Jackie Gleason Show, Jimmy Dean Show, The
Country Music Jubilee and American Bandstand. He was hot.
Cash was
married for several years to Vivian Liberto. They had four daughters and a
rocky marriage. Johnny was in the first phase of his incredible journey to fame
and he was often absent. Vivian once revealed that Johnny left home for over a
year and she had no idea of his whereabouts. One year he came home in January
loaded down with Christmas gifts for his daughters. It was a dark holiday.
Some of the
highlights in the life of Johnny Cash include:
There are songs
recorded by Cash that documented a fading part of American life. It was his way
of promoting American Folk Music; My Grandfather’s Clock; Don’t Take Your Guns
to Town, Cool Water and the incredible Five Feet High and Rising.”
In 1961, Saul
Holli a promotor from London Ontario and Johnny’s manager was instrumental in
hiring June Carter for the Johnny Cash Show. This merger of souls lasted 42
years. June and Johnny proved inseparable, a lifetime of love. Johnny In 1964
Cash and Bob Dylan met and became lifelong friends. Cash recorded several of
his songs including It Ain’t Me Babe and Mama You’ve Been on My Mind. The Johnny
Cash Show debuted in 1969. It was a counter-culture take on musical forms from
folk and jazz to rock and country. Besides Dylan (doing songs from Nashville
Skyline), Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot
graced the stage of The Johnny Cash Show
The 1968 Folsom
Prison Concert proved to be one of the highlights in Cash’s illustrious career.
He opened with “Hi, I’m Johnny Cash” which became his pat introduction for the
rest of his performing career. The set list included Folsom Prison Blues, Dark
as a Dungeon, Orange Blossom Special, Cocaine Blues, The Long Black Veil,
Green, Green Grass of Home and Greystone Chapel and Jackson.
Rick Rubin
recorded several songs for Rick Rubin’s American Recordings. The video of Hurt
was a masterpiece and considered to be Johnny Cash’s epitaph.
The Final
Chapter of the Book is the Gloaming it details the love and suffering this
famous couple endured. It details the decline and fall of one of our most
celebrated unions, a love that endured addiction, pain and loneliness. It is a
masterful rendering by Streissguth in his powerful yet sensitive narrative
style
The true
love of Johnny Cash’s life was June Carter. They were married on March 1st,
1968. The lived and toured together for 35 years until June’s Death in May
2003, Cash died four months later.
Michael
Streissguth has fashioned a fascinating chronicle of an American Icon. The
warts are revealed right beside the triumphs of love, forgiveness and family.
Johnny Cash: The Biography can be found at
Amazon.com or eBay.com or Barnes & Noble. It is worth the time.
