Many of the products released trade on the rugged, outlaw Man in Black image. Take, for example, the recently released Man in Black: Johnny Cash, Live in Denmark 1971. The cover is, of course, black showing a dimly lit Cash looking somber and pensive. The man on the cover is nowhere to be found on the DVD enclosed. The Johnny Cash there is in very good spirits on a brightly lit, colorful Denmark television sound stage.
But, I suppose, one follows the money when in the business of selling CDs and DVDs.
Two books were recently released and both strive to show a more human side of the Legend we know as Johnny Cash.
Touted as the �first critical, independent biography� of Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash: The Biography covers Cashs life in detail from birth to death without covering the warts and peeking behind the media hype of certain aspects of the Man in Black.
Author Michael Streissguth is considered one of the foremost authorities on Cash, having also written an earlier book on the making of the classic Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison album and also serving as editor for a Cash reader. In this biography he does not attempt to cater to a particular aspect of Cashs� image painting him as saint or sinner, but rather he lays the facts bear and lets the reader decide. By the same token, when discussing Cash�s drug use (which, Streissguth points out, continued all of his life, even after most people think he was clean) he never sensationalizes the issue, but gives us the facts as told to him by people close to Cash such as his daughters and friends.
Comparing Johnny Cash: The Biography to past books on Cash, including two autobiographies and biographies from the 1970�s up to Steve Turners� 2004 The Man Called Cash, it nearly lives up to the claim that it �may prove to be the definitive biography,� although omissions such as the story of the robbers who threatened the lives of Johnny and his family at their Jamaican retreat Cinnamon Hill keep it just shy of the goal. But that might be nit-picking in the face of the sheer amount of details Streissguth uncovers on the early days of Cash�s career through very personal details of his 2003 death.
Drawing from interviews of those closely associated with Cash such as former managers, musicians, family members and friends, Streissguth divides the book into five sections each dealing with a different phase of Cash�s career, beginning with previously unpublished information on the history of Cash�s parents, the first section covers his birth and childhood to his move to Memphis (1932-1955). Other sections cover his rise to fame (1956-1967), his commercial peak (1968-1972), the fallow period of struggle (1973-1993) and his final triumphant return (1994-2003).
In his book, I Was There When It Happened: My Life With Johnny Cash, Marshall Grant, one half of the original Tennessee Two, covers from the beginning of his association with Johnny right up to Johnny�s memorial service in 2003. Supplying rich details of those early days, the book is a very entertaining and informative read and serves as a fantastic document of their celebrated career.
Grant starts in the early 1950�s with his introduction to Cash by Cash�s brother Roy, who worked with Grant and guitarist Luther Perkins. The stories of the early years read like wonderful reminiscences of a young friendship that produced a sound that became the foundation for a legend. The details add to the picture and supply interesting bits of trivia as it develops. For instance, did you know that it was almost a three piece band in the beginning, but once arriving at Sun studios, steel guitarist Red Kernodle, a friend who had been there since the first jam sessions, got too nervous to play and bowed out of the group for fear of holding them back?
Moving through the Fifties, Grant outlines the beginnings of Cash�s well publicized battle with drug addiction. He takes us through Cash�s introduction to the pills that would come to consume his life and ultimately, as Grant believes, cost both he and June their lives.
The Sixties was a time of immense popularity for the group, but within the organization the turmoil of Cash�s drug use was starting to tear them apart. Missed shows and poorly performed shows were just a couple of the obstacles that Grant had to move the group through. Acting as road manager and general go-between, he often had the unpleasant task of explaining to a promoter or even a crowd that the star would not be appearing that night as scheduled.
In the wake of Cash�s drug use we see the toll it took on those around him. When he missed a show or was too high to appear, this often led to the shows cancellation and in turn, Grant and Perkins missing a paycheck. While Cash traveled the country making his path as only he desired, using royalty monies that belong to the group, his bandmates were at home trying to feed hungry children.
The biopic Walk the Line, as well as books and many articles and television interviews note Cash as drug free since around 1968, but Grant (as well as Streissguth) tell us that the drug use continued to some extent beyond that. Grant notes that the day John Carter Cash was born, Cash went completely drug free. He would remain this way for 6 years before it began to creep back into his life.
Cash�s drug use eventually lead to a series of events that ended with Cash firing Grant after nearly 30 years of being together. In his drug induced state, Cash publicly laid out false accusations which prompted Grant to file a lawsuit against his former friend to gain the back royalties he was owed since the groups signing.
But in the end, this is a story of two friends that were as close as brothers. The lawsuit was settled and a few years later, as health problems caused Cash�s drug use to ebb, the two rekindled their friendship.
Throughout the book Grant makes it clear that he did not blame any of these events on Cash, but rather the drugs that now controlled his every action. He notes that many poor business decisions, decisions for which the consequences were paid by others in the organization, would not have taken place had it not been for the drugs.
These books are filled with wonderful details from the beginning of Cash�s career to his final days. The portrait they paint is not always the one we choose to remember of the musical icon, but they nonetheless speak the truth. If you are a Johnny Cash fan, these books should be in your library.
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