2008 Woodie Awards
Johnny Cash should be more appreciated
By Lacey Hiles
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 12/2/05 Section: Opinion
Over the break I went and watched a movie, dubbed a "bio pic" by most. I sat in that movie theater in the Valley Mall in Hagerstown, Md., in awe. I had known the story beforehand, but seeing it alive on the screen literally blew me away. This movie? Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash story, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
What saddens me is the fact that I know many have already stopped reading. "Johnny Cash?" people ask. "Who's that?" How anyone cannot know this man, who truly was in a league of his own, is something I can't comprehend. If you don't, here's a brief history.
John Ray Cash, better known as Johnny Cash, is a music legend whose influence extends beyond country and rock. He started his career at Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., the same place that started Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. At first he was a gospel singer with his Tennessee Two- guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant- but Sun Records' owner and producer, Sam Phillips, said that wouldn't sell. Instead, Johnny began singing songs he had written while in the Air Force in Germany, including "Folsom Prison Blues." He later left Sun Records for Columbia Records.
Despite being arrested seven times, he never served hard time, but many people didn't know that or just didn't care. He was still an outlaw and battled drug addiction throughout the '60s. Even so, he released several hits, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," a true story about a World War II hero coming home only to find that people still treated him like dirt because he was Pima Indian. Cash's drug addiction caught up to him, eventually, and he went through detox by locking himself in his home and relying on June and her parents, Ezra and "Mother" Maybelle Carter. A few years later June and Johnny would finally marry.
Through the late '60s, '70s and '80s, he continued to sing and raise hell, defending artists on the edges of music and encouraging them. He became the legendary "Man in Black." In the '90s, he was all but ignored in country music, but he didn't let that get to him. When his record Unchained received a Grammy for Best Country Album, he and producer Rick Rubin- of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danzig and Slayer fame- took out a full page ad in Billboard Magazine and "thanked" the country music industry for their continued support. The ad had Johnny flipping everyone off.
What saddens me is the fact that I know many have already stopped reading. "Johnny Cash?" people ask. "Who's that?" How anyone cannot know this man, who truly was in a league of his own, is something I can't comprehend. If you don't, here's a brief history.
John Ray Cash, better known as Johnny Cash, is a music legend whose influence extends beyond country and rock. He started his career at Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., the same place that started Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. At first he was a gospel singer with his Tennessee Two- guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant- but Sun Records' owner and producer, Sam Phillips, said that wouldn't sell. Instead, Johnny began singing songs he had written while in the Air Force in Germany, including "Folsom Prison Blues." He later left Sun Records for Columbia Records.
Despite being arrested seven times, he never served hard time, but many people didn't know that or just didn't care. He was still an outlaw and battled drug addiction throughout the '60s. Even so, he released several hits, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," a true story about a World War II hero coming home only to find that people still treated him like dirt because he was Pima Indian. Cash's drug addiction caught up to him, eventually, and he went through detox by locking himself in his home and relying on June and her parents, Ezra and "Mother" Maybelle Carter. A few years later June and Johnny would finally marry.
Through the late '60s, '70s and '80s, he continued to sing and raise hell, defending artists on the edges of music and encouraging them. He became the legendary "Man in Black." In the '90s, he was all but ignored in country music, but he didn't let that get to him. When his record Unchained received a Grammy for Best Country Album, he and producer Rick Rubin- of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danzig and Slayer fame- took out a full page ad in Billboard Magazine and "thanked" the country music industry for their continued support. The ad had Johnny flipping everyone off.
