Tuesday's Toon! #2

John R. "Johnny" Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003), was an American singer-songwriter, actor and author who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Cash, a troubled but devout Christian, has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges". A Biblical Scholar, he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Bible; even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all."
Cash's heritage was a British Isles mix; on his mother's side, English. and he learned upon researching his heritage that he was of Scottish royal descent on his father's side, traced back to Malcolm I of Scotland. After meeting with now-dead laird Major Michael Crichton-Stuart of Falkland, Fife, Scotland, Johnny traced the Cash family tree to eleventh-century Fife; Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the name of his family.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on studio owner Sam Phillips to pay a social visit while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived and have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet.

Cash (standing at right) with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis. Cash wrote in his book, Cash: the Autobiography, that he sang the songs on the recordings, but was the one who was the farthest from the microphone and was singing the songs in a higher pitch to blend in with Elvis.



From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. Cash enjoyed booking contemporary performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Rogers and James Taylor;  Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominos) and Bob Dylan. During the same period, he contributed the title song and other songs to the film Little Fauss and Big Halsey, which starred Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, and Lauren Hutton. The title song, The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsey, written by Carl Perkins, was nominated for a Golden Globe award. Cash had met with Dylan in the mid 1960s and became closer friends when they were neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes. In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. The video that was released for "Hurt", fits Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as "his epitaph,"and received particular critical and popular acclaim. (Wikipedia) (Video/Photos: Copyright Control)