“I said ‘stick ‘em up everybody, I’m robbing this place, drop all of your money in my guitar case.”
John R. Cash was a country and rock singer who expanded the music industry by bringing in elements of his own life and the things he saw around him into his music. Johnny Cash changed the music industry forever with his natural talent, simple style, and focus on the working poor and social issues. He made top charts with titles every music fan has heard before such as “Ring of Fire”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, and “I Walk the Line.” He has been entered into the rock and roll Hall of Fame, and continues to connect people together with his music an impressive 75 years after his first release. But his music is just a small corner of the varied and often hard life he led.
Johnny Cash was born to a poor family in Arkansas on land that was part of the New Deal, a Great Depression era initiative which provided land to families to work on and one day own. From a young age, Cash was surrounded by music, whether it was the folk songs his mother sang or the songs he heard while working on the family’s farm with his six siblings (National Endowment for the Humanities). Many of the songs he wrote were based on childhood memories. In “Daddy Sang Bass”, one of his lesser-known songs, a haunting memory of the time one of his brothers was cut in half by a table saw. “Now little brother has done gone on/ But I’ll rejoin him in a song/ We’ll be together again up yonder in a little while.” This is just one of many examples of memories Cash has of his childhood he reminisces on in his songs. Listeners can get a unique look into Cash’s often strange and crazy life simply by listening to his music.
Cash joined the Air Force at 18 and worked with radio, decrypting messages intercepted from the USSR. Once he was out of the Air Force, Cash started selling appliances in Tennessee. He ended up auditioning to work as a backup singer at the famous Sun Records recording studio. This was Cash’s first step towards a career in music.
Shortly after taking up a recording contract with Sun Records, Cash released some of his most famous hits such as “I Walk the Line” (which was number one on country charts in 1956) and began to grow his name in the music industry. Around this time Cash also began to drink and became heavily addicted to opioids. After marrying longtime recording partner June Carter and the two had a son, he began to slowly work his way out of his addictions to spend more time with his family (Biography.com/countrysingers).
Cash made headlines both on stage and off. When not performing for an audience, he often tested the souring relationships between him and his neighbors. During one such opioid-fueled stunt, Cash attached large speakers to the roof of his house so that he could blast Christmas music. Neighbors called the police on him. The Virginia Quarterly Review ran a headline the next day: “Johnny Cash Has a Blue Christmas.”
Cash also enjoyed traveling outside of performances. During one such trip to Los Padres National Forest, Cash’s truck overheated sparking a wildfire that burned over 500 acres of the park, an accident that nearly killed the entire condor population in the area. Whether this was caused by his behavior while on drugs or simply pure accident was never discovered. Cash was questioned by the judge assigned to his case if he had intentionally started the fire. According to the 2014 article published by LA Weekly, he replied that “my truck did, and it’s dead, so you can’t question it.” Cash was heavily fined.
Shortly before his death, Cash was approached by Rick Rubin (the original DJ for the Beastie Boys, and producer for both Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jay-Z) who offered Cash a recording contract. Rubin wanted to capture Johnny Cash’s classic and unique music style by having Cash sing solo or with minimal instrumental backup. Cash was skeptical at first because he thought Rubin was just another fake contractor who wanted to record him to make fun of his music.
Cash’s popularity declined after he released songs and albums which challenged the social and political norms of the time. One of his most controversial albums “Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian” spoke out against the violence and abuse that Native Americans faced (and still face). A 2016 article published by American Civil Liberties Union reported that when asked why he recorded an album about the plight of Native Americans, Cash replied that his motivation came from his childhood where he saw the suffering of Native Americans around him. Cash said that he saw the contrast between his own life and the conditions that the Native Americans were forced into by the government. People were angry at Cash for bringing up taboo and uncomfortable questions which they said were ‘in the past’. Despite people’s strong negative reactions towards the album, Cash felt like it was his job as a celebrity to raise awareness about these injustices.
Rubin convinced Cash to record a few songs with him. Rubin wanted Cash’s natural vocal range to carry the music. He did not use many more instruments than a guitar or two. Rubin wanted to create an album that was true to Cash and his experiences. The album which came out of these sessions, “American Recordings,” was recorded mostly in Cash’s Tennessee cabin, adding to the authenticity and uniqueness of the songs. The songs have a natural and unconstrained sound to them compared with Cash’s studio-recorded or live pieces. While the album received two Grammys, it barely sold on the shelf. It is more popular today than it was when it was first released.
In the last 4 months of his life, Cash recorded over 60 songs. He died in a Nashville hospital on September 12, 2003 after suffering complications caused by diabetes. According to an article published by Great Oldies, some of Cash’s last words were said to be “I hear the train a comin’.”
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