johnny cash one of the good ones before country became watered down althouhg i think hes beyond country these days
my favorite song is “one piece at a time” the one that they build a car by taking home parts over 10 years or so
theres good new people these days but they cant just compare to jones nelson cash ect …
Caught JC on tour in 1996, I think. Two months later, I heard he had been diagnosed with parkinson’s disease. What a shame.
JC is, IMO, one ofthe greatest rockabilly artist yet, along with the reverend Horton Heat, Brian Setzer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Reilley, et al. and if it weren’t for him, no Psychobilly.
And my favorite JC lyrics?
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a croc-o-dile
also, from the same song:
And if I ever had a son, I would name him…Bill, or George, or anything but Sue. I still hate that name
Yeah, he did. One of my favorite episodes.
The song of his that I find most haunting is “Ghost Riders in the Sky”
For those of you who lament the lack of Cash on the radio, if you have a broadband connection I recommend KFDI-AM in Wichita, KS. I’ve been listening to them over the web for a couple of years now, and love it.
“Cowboy mend your ways, or with us you will ride. Trying to catch the devil’s herd, clear across the sky.”
I’m a hopeless channel-surfer, fleeing from idiotic commercials, banal crap, etc. but it sure fosters tripping over real music, even if it’s by pure chance.
I’m far from a Johnny Cash expert but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard. For one, he sounds like himself, not a pre-packaged music unit dropping offa the end of the assembly line. Second–and this is very non-PC–but he sounds MALE. You just don’t hear many unapologetic, unmistakable male voices anymore. Or maybe I just don’t.
Note: on the feminine side, same goes with Patsy Cline; really enjoy her stuff. Great set of pipes and way around a song.
Veb
I once read a description of him, “Country’s closest thing to Punk/Goth”…which is kinda true.
I’m not a huge country fan AT ALL, but I do like some Patsy Cline songs.
keeper0 - thanks for the link, I’m listening.
I saw him at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake when I was 16 or 17 – my god, that’s 40 years ago. I don’t think he was at his best, but I was drunk, so maybe it was me.
My favorite Cash songs are “I Walk the Line” and “Delia’s Gone” (from the “American Recordings” CD).
Cash, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles are the holy triumvirate of American music. IMHO.
Country music? Bah!!!
really can’t stand it, but Johnny is something else - a direct forerunner to the likes of Nick Cave (his cover of Mercy Seat is brilliant).
Johnny can’t be country, although he is certainly influenced by it. the man is very nearly gothic in his lyrical content and the richness of his voice.
God with a hangover? I have never heard it put so well…
Just face it folks - if you like Johnny, you like a country singer. I love how people are so defensive about that. I can’t blame them though, considering how much radio stations lie about what country is, when most of what the country stations play is bad pop music. The point it, it’s like saying you hate rock music based on hearing New Kids on the Block.
Johnny is one of the rare artists where every new record you get gives some new angle on what he’s able to do, and some new nugget. Along with people like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, he’s almost always managed to stay interesting, and even when he’s a victim of bad production/career advice, his voice has never wavered.
I found a bootleg a while ago which had the soundtrack to a movie that Johnny made in about 1959, based on the song ‘Don’t take Your Guns to Town’ - I’d love to know if anyone’s actually seen this film or if it’s available anywhere in the world - it sounds amazing.
And I’m waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with the resurgence of Dolly Parton - her last 2 records are as amazing as the Johnny Cash comeback records of the last decade.
I met Johnny Cash when my first husband and I were working in radio outside of Nashville. I was 21 and he answered my questions with “Yes, ma’am.” Which was weird because he’s always reminded me a little of my Dad. They both have that polite, kind of self-effacing attitude and you just know they’re good people from the first.
Though Johnny is much cooler than Dad.
Playing that on MP3 right now. The version with Willie Nelson. It’s a truly great song.
[sub]“A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the skies / he saw the riders coming hard / and he heard their mournful cry”[/sub]
I really love the way he always sounds on the verge of tears. That’s a quality in a voice which is rare and lovely. the only other I can think of just now is Orbison.
I’ve seen Mr Cash twice in concert in Sydney (he spends a lot of time down here). Both times, he blew my mind.
A check on the Internet Movie Database led me to guess that it might be Door-To-Door Maniac from 1961 in which “A gang of bank robbers terrorize a small town by knocking on doors and then killing whoever answers.” Cash appears as “Johnny Cabot.” A heck of a way to start a movie career. By the way, you can also head for the main JC pagehere which shows him as composer for the movie as well.
Interesting to check all his appearances in movies and TV. I’d love to see him work with Sam Elliot in a Sackett movie. Hmmmmm.
HenrySpencer wrote
Please. Just because Country claims Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley and just because those artists recorded for country labels doesn’t mean they are country. Hell, next you’ll be trying to tell me Lyle Lovett is country.
Thanks for taking the time to check, although I’ve managed to have a look at the CD, and it’s actually called ‘Night Rider’ (1957) (Now where have I heard that name before ;)?) starring Merle Travis, Eddie Dean and some other b-grade stars/country singers. The CD contains some great period piece print ads for the film, and it’s billed as:
The Night Rider starring the Fabulous Recording Artist JOHNNY CASH.
Apparently, it was also filmed in ‘Eastman Color’, whatever that means.
And Bill, there’s no way that Presley is a country artist - he just did country material, along with lots of other styles of music. Johnny Cash’s image and influences have always had a healthy, unashamed dose of country, much more so than rock and roll or whatever style you think he fits into best. His numerous Hank Williams covers, as well as his connections to the Carter Family (even before marrying June) also add to his place as a country star. But really, my point was more that liking JC can just be the first step on the road to loving country music. I wonder, do you consider Dolly Parton country?
And how much more interesting is it for Dolly to cover ‘Shine’, or JC to cover ‘Rusty Cage’, than for heavy groups to do their typical ‘let’s do a heavy cover of [insert name of country song] …’!
Has anyone else heard the VH1 Storytellers CD with Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash - just the two of them and thier guitars singing songs and telling stories - AMAZING STUFF
Mike Ness of Social Distortion called him ‘the worlds first punk’. Social Distortion even did a pretty hopped up version of Ring of Fire. A sample can be found here. (about 1/3 way down on right)
I’ve gone through a lot of musical preferences in my life, and JC has been part of all of them. He’s got a style that just transcends being put into a particular category. He’s poetry set to music, pure and simple.
One thing I find really impressive about Cash is how many artists in difference styles credit him as an influence. It seems everyone from Travis Tritt to the Melvins to the Genetorturers have taken a lesson or two from the man and moved on in their own directions.
My favorite Cash songs are “Wanted Man” (written with Dylan), “Delia’s Gone” (good old fashioned psychopathy) and “A Boy Named Souix” (written by Shel Silverstein, of all people).
I’m also a big fan of his work with the Highwaymen. Whoever had the idea to put Kris Kristopherson (sp?), Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash together and turn them loose on the world was an unabashed genius.
I saw them on PBS, on Austin City Limits or something like that, late one night. Like you say, amazing stuff. I couldn’t go to sleep until the show was over, and even then the music kept running through my head. Sometimes tv is good. 
BTW; Willie himself ain’t chopped liver. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, I just posted this in another thread, but I’ll repeat it here:
One of my favourite Johnny Cash songs is “The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer”. Go, John Henry!
You know, Johnny Cash is in both the Country Music Hall of Fame AND the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. And a lot of his songs are still popular with the folk music crowd (yes, there is still a folk music crowd, although much reduced from the 1960s). He’s a great musician and showman who can sing in a variety of styles, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But for those of you who shudder at the term “country” - you gotta remember that the Man in Black pre-dates canned C&W over-hyped Nashville crap. Sort of like Buddy Holly pre-dates Christina Aguilera and the other slut-dressed pre-packaged pop stars of today.
Now, if you want to get to what influenced Mr. Cash - that’s what is now called “Old Timey”. If you don’t know what Old Timey music is, get a copy of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, 'cause that’s mostly Old Timey. Some folks call it “folk”, and I’d say it’s a division of folk music, but one indigenous to this country as opposed to English folk or Irish folk or whatever. And, oh yeah, Old Timey is acoustic, not electric. Remember when Pete Seegar almost electricuted himself attempting to slice the power cables to Bob Dylan’s electric guitar with a fire ax? Some folks in folk music take that acoustic/electric distinction pretty seriously. Anyhow, another influence with Mr. Cash is old time Gospel. Again, not the pre-packaged, 100 professional voices gospel you sometimes hear but the real gospel music sung by real believers and congregations in little churches, which will send shivers up and down your spine even if you aren’t a true believer because it’s down with feeling. In fact, Johnny Cash had it written into his Columbia record contract that for every so many albums he recorded for them he’d get to do one of just gospel, which Columbia wasn’t real happy about because they didn’t find that sort of gospel profitable. And, of course, southern blues influence is also in there.
But Mr. Cash is an original and able to bridge several genres. I don’t think it’s because he’s the world’s greatest guitar player, or even the world’s greatest baritone, but because he can put real emotion and feeling into his music.