His signature songs include “I Walk The Line”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring Of Fire”, and “Man in Black”. Friends joked about his “nervousness” and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Eventually, he earned the nickname of “The Man in Black.”Īs his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. This was 1957 and Cash also made his Grand Ole Opry debut that year, again appearing all in black where the other performers were decked out in flamboyant, rhinestone-studded outfits.
Cash started to rehearse gospel songs with them and soon found themselves playing at local parties and church socials – all dressed in black. ‘Red’ Kernodle had the group The Tennessee Three. It was while working here, Cash was introduced to Luther Monroe Perkins and Marshall Grant who were guitar pickers who, with steel guitarist A.W. When Elvis Presley’s debut single was released on Sam Phillips’ Sun Records, Cash eager to get into music moved to Memphis, taking a job at the local Chevrolet dealership, near Sun Studios on Union Avenue. While he was in the Air Force, Cash bought his first guitar and taught himself to play.
He graduated from high school in 1950, moving to Detroit to work in an auto factory and then with the outbreak of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force. With no money down, the Cash family was given 20 acres of fertile bottom land and a five-room house in Dyess Colony, in the northeast part of the state.Īt the age of 12 Cash began writing his own songs inspired by the country songs he heard on the radio.
He created his own subgenre, halfway between folk, rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country.īorn in the town of Kingsland, Cleveland County, Arkansas, to Ray Cash, a farmer, and Carrie Rivers Cash, who at the height of the Depression, took advantage of a new farming program, an experiment in American Socialism created by Roosevelt’s new administration. Johnny Cash didn’t sound like county music from Nashville, nor did he sound like a rock & roll singer. I can’t think of anyone apart from Elvis who has had such an influence and hold on musical culture for over 40 years, the singer became an imposing and influential figure.
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