NEWS: More Johnny Cash Material On The Way

*goes to Amazon, hits preorder*

Damn, I was hoping this would be about American VI. Oh well.

Also, I read a quiz in FHM with a question that ran thusly:

'Who played crusty old singer Johnny Cash in the film, leading to thousands of people jumping on the bandwagon to say how great he is?'

That annoyed me enormously.

Hadn't read that quote, but damn I will make a point never to buy FHM. I wear my Johnny Cash T-Shirt proudly every time it comes out of the wash. (it's the cover to his Folsom Prison Live LP) I own just about every song Johnny Cash has available on CD, not to mention my record collection which includes the Live albums, Bad News and one of western albums, a couple of greatest hits releases from SUN records to name a few.'

How dare they disparage the late great Johnny Cash. I'm annoyed at the bandwagon too, but that's no reason to run the man down. I'm most annoyed right now at the song called Johnny Cash, that has nothing to do with him.

You think one day Merle Haggard will be as cool as Cash?
Seriously though. Why has Cash been deemed "cool" and "acceptable" and given the seal of approval by the punk and rockabily crowd whereas other artists like Merle and Kris Kristoferson haven't. I gotta think it's an image thing. Cash wears black and there's a picture of him flipping the bird that looks good on a t-shirt. Yeah, I too think it's great that people are so into Cash, but there are a lot of other "hillbilly/country" artists out there you might want to look into. That's all i'm sayin.

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, anyone???

Buck Owens is great...and Dwight Yoakam is his biggest fan. Just take a listen to a Dwight album. It's got Buck all over it. Here's the reason why Merle and KK are not as cool as cash.
1. They didn't start and define a distinctive sound.
2. Merle is a more traditional country artist. His legacy is the basis for traditional country music today, and most artists will list him as a major influence. Alan Jackson, Joe Nichols and Dwight Yoakam to name a few. Kris, on the other hand, is better as a writer than a performer. And, he's better as an actor than at either of those things.

Thanks graphicsman77. That makes a lot of sense. Cash was a forerunner and an original. I guess I forgot that. Ok, so I was wrong.

I must concur with GM77. There's also something about JC's delivery which makes one feel like he's "Everyman." Like, no matter what he is singing, he truly means it. We know he probably didn't shoot a man in reno just to watch him die. But he damn sure gave me goosebumps the first time (and some of the subsequent times)I hear Folsom Prison Blues. I thinkthat's where he trascends musical genres and has such mass appeal despite a severley limited vocal range. As Waylon once described Johnny, Willie, and Dylan:

"They're 'stylists.'

And Johnny was definitely a pioneer. He was pretty well rooted in country, but had a distinctly rockabilly feel to his stuff, partlially emphasized in his right-hand muting rhythm guitar technique. And Hell, he met Kris when Kris was cleaning the ashtrays at the studio where Johnny recorded and pitched him songs - I think it was Johnny's interpretation of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" that got Kris noticed.

There are so many things that make Johnny the well-deserved icon he is.

I'll end by paraphrasing the words of another in the Musical Diety Pantheon, Bob Dylan, describing his first meeting with the master. I must paraphrase, 'cause I don't feel like digging out all my old vinyl and looking for the liner notes I think this is from for exact wording. I think it MAY be off Freewheelin'.

Anyway, Zimmy said something I guess about Johnny's impressive stature, presumably physically and psychically. Like "when I first met him I just walked around him looking up like he was a big ol' oak tree."

Something like that. I believe Bozo Bono later referred to him as an oak tree in a field of weeds, likely alluding to Dylan's earlier famous words.

Blasphemy!!!!

I suppose I could always turn on my radio and hear the same old studio-hashed out bullshit day after day instead, eh?