So I have been avoiding this man (much like I am avoiding The Beatle) as there is so much to his story and to whittle his life down to a few paragraphs and a few songs is tough. I am procrastinating…. Let’s get started!
![]( http://i.imgsafe.org/c23ab08aab.jpg)
Johnny Cash, born 26 February 1932 was an American singer/ songwriter, guitarist, actor and later an author.  His main music genre was country and western, but his recordings also embraced rockabilly, blues, gospel and folk. 
Johnny Cash was one of seven children, his parents being poor Southern Baptist sharecroppers who moved to Dyess, Arkansas to take advantage of President Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ farming program . At the time Cash was three years old and for the next 15 years he worked in the cotton fields alongside his siblings and folks to repay their debt. It was not an easy life.
### Christened J R Cash he was forced to change his name when enlisting in the army, as initials were not an acceptable first name. He changed his name to John R Cash ###
<center> ![]( http://onemanz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Johnny-Cash-the-life-book-review.jpg) </center>
[Image Credit](www.onemanz.com)
Cash started writing songs at the age of 12, and his mother seeing his love of music scraped money together to pay for singing lessons. After three lessons the teacher  was struck by his natural style and stopped teaching him… urging him to follow his own natural style. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bksZ4Qu18kc
*Hey Porter – Cash’s first recording for Sun Records*
In 1954 Cash signed for Sun Records and released two songs, Hey Porter and Cry,Cry,Cry which did well on the Country charts. At this time he was playing with Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant who were known as the ‘Tennessee Two’. 
Cash’s next album ‘ Folsums Prison Blues’ made the country number 5 slot, with the track ‘Walk The Line’ topping the singles chart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq0fUa0vW_E
*Walk The Line*
>From his early gospel recordings and the resonant outlaw-country of Fifties classics like "Folsom Prison Blues" to late efforts like his unlikely, gut-wrenching cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" – influenced not only his fellow country musicians, but also rockers from Bono to Bob Dylan. By turns those songs were laden with pathos, whimsy, regret, hope, lust and fury; they always cut to the heart of its subject matter, whether it be God, love or the plight of prisoners and Native Americans. Cash led a tumultuous life, battling drug addiction, chaffing against orthodoxy, and doing things his own way. But by the end The Man in Black became an icon, a man who earns almost universal respect among music fans.
[SOURCE:  Rollingstone]( http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/johnny-cash/biography)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xyp63MaSBs
*Folsom Prison Blues*

His career now fully on track, as was his substance abuse, Cash moved to Ventura and signed with Colombia records in 1958. He recorded a number of records including ‘Ring of Fire’ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc
*Ring of Fire*

In 1958 Cash also had his biggest hit which topped the charts for ten weeks,* Ballad of a Teenage Queen* as well as another number one *Guess Things Happen That Way*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hWW8Lr-Ajg
*Ballad of a Teenage Queen*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOJAhKLEFTA
*Guess Things Happen That Way*

In 1965 Johnny Cash, divorced and basically a drug addict moved to Nashville. Here he met June Carter of the famous Carters (she penned Ring of Fire) and let us allow Rolling Stone magazine to take it from here

> But in Nashville, Cash began a relationship with June Carter, who by 1967 helped him kick his drug habit and reconverted him to fundamentalist Christianity. By the time Cash and Carter married in early 1968, they had been working together regularly. They had hit duets with "Jackson" (Number Two C&W, 1967), "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" (Number Six C&W, 1967), and versions of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" (Number 58 pop, Number Four C&W, 1964) and Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" (Number 36 pop, Number Two C&W, 1970).
[SOURCE]( http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/johnny-cash/biography)

Quoting Allmusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine who for me is a serious music wordsmith

>Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll, and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history -- as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums -- that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music's biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles.
### Now that sums the man up ###

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YVYczqD2b8
*A Thing Called Love* 

And the song that we all sang as kids in the early 70’s …… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOHPuY88Ry4
*Boy Named Sue*

Fantastic song!!
Thanks for reading, and hopefully listening {friendly wave to the missing @kiwideb}…{thinks} ‘I wonder what happened to @Onetree’ ?  

### **I am featuring artists from the 60’s and 70’s from diverse genre’s over the next few months. If you love music … FOLLOW and take the journey with me..it is going to be one thrilling ride !! Furthermore I will only be featuring artists from MY vinyl collection, and I shall start all of the posts with a photo of an album cover to authenticate** ###

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